Dollar deposits held by individuals again hit a record high. This is because the movement to buy the dollar intensified due to the strong won. News 1
Last month, dollar deposits held by individuals reached a record high of 20 trillion won. It is interpreted that as the value of the won soared, the demand to buy the dollar at a cheaper price increased.
700 million dollars flocked to the dollar deposit in December
Exchange rate decline,’low price buy’ demand increase
Seohak ants increase and corporate deposits decrease
The Bank of Korea reported that at the end of December last year, the amount of dollar deposits held by individuals among domestic residents increased by 4.3% ($730 million) to $17.8 billion (about 19.64 trillion won) from the previous month ($17.65 billion).18 Announced the day. Individuals’ dollar deposits are reaching a record high of $18 billion for four consecutive months since last September.
The drop in the won-dollar exchange rate is largely responsible for the concentration of personal funds in dollar deposits. Usually, when the exchange rate is low (strong won), demand for securing the dollar increases. Since March of last year, the dollar has been falling and the won is rising as the market has overflowed with liquidity due to the low interest rate of the US Federal Reserve System (Fed). In fact, the average won in December last year was 1095.13 per dollar, up 2% from the previous average (1117.76 won).
Unlike individuals, corporate dollar deposits have declined. At the end of December last year, corporate dollar deposits amounted to 62.6 billion dollars (about 68.77 trillion won), a decrease of $550 million from a month ago. The Bank of Korea explained that the number of dollar deposits held by securities companies decreased as the number of’Seohak ants’ investing in overseas stocks when the dollar was low.
An official from the Bank of Korea said, “At the end of the year, individual investment in overseas stocks has increased markedly.” “As securities companies’ overseas payments were drained last month, the overall corporate dollar deposits decreased.”
Last month, the total foreign currency deposits, including yen and yuan, held by domestic residents, including dollars, were totaled to 94.2 billion dollars (about 104 trillion won), an increase of 590 million dollars from the previous month. Of these, deposits in euros were $4.71 billion, an increase of $210 million from the previous month. On the other hand, yuan deposits decreased by $120 million from the previous year to $1.98 billion.
Reporter Yoon Sang-eon youn.sangun@joongang.co.kr