Seoul shares soar on swap deal with U.S.

SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened more than 7 percent higher Thursday as retail investors buoyed up blue chips on news of a currency swap deal with the United States, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 56.21 points, or
5.8 percent, to 1,053.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading after opening 7
percent higher.
Steep gains in early trading forced the Korea Exchange to suspend program trading
for five minutes, after the main index's futures prices rose more than 5 percent.

Earlier, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it will sign a currency swap
deal of up to US$30 billion each with the central banks of South Korea, Mexico,
Brazil and Singapore, effective until April 30 of next year.
The currency swap deal with the U.S. came as South Korean banks and companies are
having difficulty in securing liquidity enough to service debts and pay for their
business activities. The increased demand for dollars has put downward pressure
on the won, with the local currency falling over 35 percent against the dollar so
far this year.
The local currency was trading at 1,357.05 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15
a.m., up 69.95 won from Wednesday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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