South Korean Won Declines To 5-day Low Against Yen; Recovers Early Losses Against US Dollar

The South Korean won declined to a 5-day low against the Japanese yen and climbed from a 2-day low against the US dollar during Wednesday's early trading.

On the equity front, the South Korean stock market is trading firm on Wednesday with investors picking up stocks cutting across various sectors on expectations of fairly buoyant quarterly results.

The benchmark KOSPI index, which opened notably higher at 1,642, is currently trading at 1,651, up 22.1 points, or 1.36%, over its previous close.

Wednesday in Asia, the South Korean won dropped against its Japanese counterpart. The won touched a 5-day low of 13.1040 against the Japanese unit, compared to 13.0730 hit late Tuesday in New York. On the downside, the next likely target is seen around the13.19 level.

The Bank of Japan decided to leave the key interest rate unchanged as expected. The Policy Board of the BoJ unanimously decided to maintain the uncollateralized overnight call rate at 0.1%. The last change in the rate was a 0.1% cut in interest rates at the December 2008 meeting.

Earlier a report by the Bank of Japan said that the prices for domestic corporate goods shed 7.9 percent on year in September, posting an index score of 103.0. That was exactly in line with analyst expectations following the 8.5 percent annual decline in August.

The South Korean won bounced back against the US dollar after falling to a 2-day low of 1172.60 during Wednesday's early Asian trading. The won is now trading at 1165.10 against the buck, with 1163.5 seen as the next upside target level. At yesterday's New York session close, the pair was quoted at 1172.10.

From U.S., advance retail sales is slated to be released at 8:30 am ET. For September, economists estimate a 2.1% decline in the retail sales, but a 0.2% increase in retail sales excluding autos.

At the same time, the export & import price indexes for September, are due out. At 10:00 am ET, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its business inventories report for August. The report is expected to show a 0.9% decline in business inventories for the month.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its September 22-23 meeting at 2 pm ET.