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S.Korea won turns down on grim econ outlook, stocks
Reuters - Thursday, December 4
*Won hit by grim growth outlook
*Unit expected to remain weak on economic fears
*1,500 support level vs. dollar seen holding firm
By Cheon Jong-woo
SEOUL, Dec 3 - The South Korean won turned lower against the dollar on Wednesday, hit by a gloomy economic outlook from a top government official and as foreign investors continued to unload Seoul shares.
Adding to a grim picture for Asia's fourth-largest economy, senior presidential secretary Bahk Byoung-won said economic growth was likely to fall to 2-3 percent next year amid a severe global downturn. [ID:nSEO279989]
The finance ministry expects the economy to grow 4.7 percent in 2008 after rising 5.0 percent last year.
Bahk also said foreign exchange authorities did not have the capacity to boost the won <KRW=> through massive intervention, putting further pressure on the local currency. [ID:nSEO278114]
The South Korean unit is expected to stay weak on persistent worries about the global recession's impact on the export-driven economy, analysts said.
But the currency's falls are seen limited as it had secured a strong support line at around 1,500 per dollar, they added.
"The won remains surrounded by various risk factors and it may head down to 1,480 again, but many will look for chances to buy the won when it gets close to the 1,500 support line," said Jeong My-young, a currency strategist at Samsung Futures Inc.
The local unit was quoted at 1,467.8/1.2 per dollar as of 0600 GMT, compared with Tuesday's domestic close <KRW=KFTC> of 1,464.5. It gained to as high as 1,441.9.
Earlier, central bank data showed the country's foreign exchange reserves dropped by $11.7 billion in November, the lowest since the end of January 2005.
"Briefly speaking, that means we are running out of water in a basket while we are putting out a fire," said Oh Suk-tae, an economist at Citigroup.
The Bank of Korea and the finance ministry also expect reserves to fall further, but a vice finance minister earlier said the losses would not be large.
Vice Finance Minister Kim Dong-soo said an improvement in the country's current account, the dollar credit line with the U.S. Federal Reserve and liquidity injections by other central banks would help limit falls in foreign reserves. [ID:nSEO296421]
Foreign investors sold a net 154.9 billion won worth of stocks in the country's main exchange after unloading a net 9.1 billion in the previous session.
So far this year foreign investors have sold a net 34.5 trillion won worth of South Korean shares.
The benchmark KOSPI <.KS11> ended down 0.05 percent.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea said it decided to provide additional support for financial institutions at an emergency meeting. [ID:nSEW000024]
0728 GMT 0245 GMT prev close Won <KRW=> 1,467.8/1.2 1,463.4/6.6 1,464.5 Yen/won <JPYKRW=R> 15.7388/03 15.6696/57 15.7253/81 KOSPI <.KS11> 1,022.67 1,029.79 1,023.20 (Additional reporting by Lee Kyoung-ho; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
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