SEOUL, April 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign currency trading grew in the first quarter, marking the biggest in three quarters, central bank data showed Thursday.
The daily foreign currency trading in the inter-bank market averaged 54.96 billion U.S. dollars in the January-March quarter, up 2.19 billion dollars from the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was the biggest since the second quarter of last year on strong demand for foreign currency derivatives to hedge currency risks.
Transaction of foreign currency derivatives, including FX swap, amounted to a daily average of 35 billion dollars in the first quarter, up 1.62 billion dollars from the previous quarter.
The FX swap trading gained 1.22 billion dollars to 22.51 billion dollars as demand increased to hedge currency risks amid the rising investment in foreign securities by local financial institutions.
The spot trading in the won/dollar exchange market slipped 0.18 billion dollars to 13.91 billion dollars in the quarter, but transaction in the won/yuan market grew 0.49 billion dollars to 2.15 billion dollars.
