The won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,490.6 won on the 13th, up 9.4 won from the previous day.
Overnight, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei hinted at blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which is seen to have dampened risk appetite. When willingness to invest in risk assets declines, the value of the won, which is not a key currency, tends to fall.
On the 12th (local time), Mojtaba said in a statement released via state TV, "We must continue to use the lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz as a means of pressuring (the United States and Israel)."
Because of this, on the same day on the U.K. ICE Futures Exchange, May delivery Brent crude futures settled at $100.46 per barrel, a 9.2% surge from the previous session. It briefly topped $100 per barrel intraday on the 9th, but the close above $100 was the first in 3 years and 7 months since Aug. 2022.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April delivery West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures closed at $95.73 per barrel, also up 9.7% from the previous session.
With oil breaking above $100, New York stocks were also weak. On the 12th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 739.42 points, or 1.56%, to close at 46,677.85, the lowest this year.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 fell 103.18 points, or 1.52%, to 6,672.62, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 404.16 points, or 1.78%, to 22,311.979, with both indices ending the session lower.