SEOUL: The South Korean won edged up to its highest intraday level in more than a month on Monday, driven by robust demand for riskier assets after upbeat credit Chinese data and amid broad weakness in the greenback after a slew of soft US data. The currency was quoted at 1,060.3 against the dollar as of 0235 GMT, up 0.3 percent from Friday's onshore close at 1,063.7. It traded as high as 1,058.2 by midday, its strongest since Jan. 14, but dealers said investors were wary of potential dollar-buying intervention by local authorities to curb the pace of the won's appreciation. "I don't think there was any intervention today, but the dollar-won has hit bottom and is rebounding," one local bank dealer said, adding that the dollar will remain firmly supported around 1,058. US manufacturing output recorded its biggest drop in more than 4-1/2 years in January, a report on Friday showed, with cold weather being blamed for the latest weaker-than-expected data. Meanwhile, China's banks disbursed the most loans in any month in four years in January, beating market forecasts to suggest the world's second-biggest economy may not be cooling as much as some investors fear. Reflecting the easing concern about South Korea's largest export market, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was quoted at 1,946.35, up 0.3 percent.

Source