The won-dollar exchange rate opened at 1,508.5 won on the 1st, down 21.6 won from the previous day.
This is seen as driven by Iran, which is at war with the United States, mentioning an end to the war. When geopolitical risk eases, investor appetite for risk assets tends to revive in the market, and the won, which is not a key currency, tends to rise.
Overnight, according to Iran's state broadcaster Press TV, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a phone call with European Council President António Costa that "if there is a guarantee of no further attacks, we are ready to end the war." Pezeshkian also said, "Iran does not want war."
On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump said at an executive order signing event at the White House that the timing to end the war would be "very soon." Trump also said a specific timeline for withdrawing from Iran would be within two to three weeks.
On hopes for an end to the war, the three major U.S. New York stock indexes all surged. On the 31st (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1,125.07 points, or 2.49%, at 46,341.21 from the prior session.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 rose 184.80 points, or 2.91%, to 6,528.52, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 795.99 points, or 3.83%, to 21,590.63. It was the biggest one-day gain since May last year.
Min Kyung-won, a Woori Bank researcher, said, "As Iran's president's positive remarks were added to the previously one-sided claims of progress on a cease-fire deal centered on President Trump, investor sentiment for risk assets, which had been gripped by fear, recovered."