The Korean won-to-US dollar exchange rate continued to rise toward 1,460 KRW after the Christmas holiday, driven by a strengthening dollar.

On December 24, the exchange rate briefly touched the 1,460 KRW mark during the day and closed at 1,456.4 KRW, up 4.4 KRW from the previous day. Subsequently, in overnight trading on December 25 (Korea time), it ended at 1,457.50 KRW, up 5.50 KRW compared to the previous week’s closing price. This marks the highest closing price since March 13, 2009 (1,483.5 KRW) during the global financial crisis.

The exchange rate has been hovering above 1,450 KRW for four consecutive trading days following last week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. On this day, it opened at 1,451.5 KRW, down 0.5 KRW from the previous day, but soon reversed to an upward trend. It steadily climbed throughout the day, reaching 1,457.4 KRW by 3:20 PM.