EU Closer to Agreement on Debt, Korea’s Won Gets Stronger

The South Korean won climbed today on the positive outlook for the economy of Asia’s nations and the signs of progress in making the plans to resolve the sovereign debt issues in Europe.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today that the European Union leaders convinced banks to write down 50 percent of the Greek debt. China commented that the agreement will bring “new vitality into European integration”. Sarkozy also said the International Monetary Fund will support the rescue efforts.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index advanced 3 percent. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, tracking 10 most-traded Asian currencies excluding the yen, gained 0.5 percent to 116.90, heading for the highest closing level in almost six weeks.

The Bank of Korea reported that the economic growth remained at the annual rate of 3.4 percent in the third quarter, the same pace as in the previous quarter, while the consumer confidence slightly increased to 100 this month from 99 in September.

USD/KRW fell from 1,133.6500 to 1,110.6500 as of 12:19 GMT today.

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