(Bloomberg) -- The volume of trades in the South Korean won in extended hours almost doubled since August, underscoring the nation’s progress in making its financial market more accessible for global investors.
The average daily trading volume from 3:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. local time the next day jumped 95% to $2.46 billion in the first two weeks of October, from $1.26 billion in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its share of trades for the entire day doubled to 20.2%.
There have also been some recent nighttime trades by companies including Samsung Electronics Co., according to FX traders and market observers who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly. Samsung declined to comment.
South Korea extended local trading hours for the won from July, as it sought to bolster the case for the nation’s stocks and bonds to be added to global indexes. Those measures are bearing fruit with FTSE Russell set to add South Korea to its global bond index next year.
Trades became particularly active in October. Volume in the extended hours exceeded $2.7 billion per day from October 7 to 11, the highest since the extension.
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