South Korea’s foreign exchange market expanded by 15.7 percent over the last three years, but still took up a pitiful 0.7 percent of global trade, data showed on Tuesday.

According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, daily foreign exchange turnover in April averaged $55.3 billion, up 15.7 percent compared with three years ago. The market was 15th largest in the world.

Spot volumes declined 2.7 percent to $19.69 billion, taking up 35.6 percent of all daily volumes, while FX swaps gained 25.4 percent to $22.3 billion, or 40.3 percent of all volumes.

Daily turnover for over-the-counter interest rate derivatives reached $8.52 billion, up 28.8 percent over the cited period. It was the world’s 20th largest with a 0.1 percent share, down three notches from April 2016.

Data also showed that daily global FX turnover came at $6.6 trillion, up 30.1 percent from three months earlier. FX spot trading rose 20.3 percent to average $2 trillion, and FX swaps jumped 34.6 percent to $3.2 trillion.

Globally, daily turnover for OTC interest rate derivatives averaged $6.5 trillion, up 142.8 percent.

By Kim Yeon-joo and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]