The foreign exchange authorities net-sold approximately $9.6 billion (approx. 12.9 trillion won) in the second quarter (April to June) of this year to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

According to the "Foreign Exchange Authorities' Net Transactions in the Second Quarter of 2026" released by the Bank of Korea today (the 30th), the foreign exchange authorities net-sold $9.612 billion to stabilize the market during the second quarter of this year.

This marks net selling for seven consecutive quarters starting from the fourth quarter of 2024.

The total net selling volume during this period reached approximately $54.964 billion.

The net selling scale in the second quarter decreased significantly compared to the first quarter (-$13.628 billion).

The average won-dollar exchange rate (based on closing prices) for the second quarter stood at 1,502.1 won, which is higher than the first quarter (1,466.7 won).

However, an official from the Bank of Korea explained, "Market stabilization measures are intended to prevent excessive volatility and one-sided concentration in the exchange rate," adding that "in the second quarter, one-sided trends of sharp rises or falls in the exchange rate were relatively weak."

In the fourth quarter of last year, as the exchange rate rose rapidly, the foreign exchange authorities net-sold $22.467 billion, marking the largest quarterly scale on record.

Since then, high exchange rate trends have continued amid the outbreak of the Middle East war and foreign investors taking profits due to stock market volatility.

The Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Economy and Finance have been disclosing the difference between the foreign exchange authorities' total dollar purchases and total sales on a quarterly basis since the third quarter of 2019.

(Photo: Yonhap News)