The won-dollar exchange rate against the U.S. dollar opened at 1,441.5 won on the 13th, up 1.3 won from the previous day. It is seen as the result of investor sentiment toward risk asset freezing. In such cases, demand for the won, which is not a key currency, tends to fall. When demand for the won decreases, the value of the won drops and the won-dollar exchange rate rises.
Overnight on Wall Street, the three major indexes all closed lower as share prices of corporations expected to be hit by advances in artificial intelligence (AI) fell. On the 12th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 669.42 points, or 1.34%, from the previous session to close at 49,451.98 in transaction.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index fell 108.71 points, or 1.57%, to 6,832.76, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed at 22,597.15, down 469.32 points (-2.03%) from the previous session in transaction.
Jade Ramani, an analyst at investment firm KBW, said, "Investors are moving away from high-fee, labor-intensive business models that appear potentially vulnerable to AI-driven disruptive innovation."
Regarding the won-dollar exchange rate, Min Kyung-won, a researcher at Woori Bank, said, "The exchange rate alone plunged by nearly 30 won this week," adding, "The fact that demand for dollars may increase, including among importers (seeking to buy at low prices), is a factor that points to a rebound in the won-dollar exchange rate."