On the 23rd, Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, is speaking at a press conference of the Monetary Policy Committee held at the Bank of Korea in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
On October 23, government bond yields rose across the board after the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged, dampening expectations for a rate cut within the year. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions, so a rise in yields means a fall in prices.
On this day, in the Seoul bond market, the yield on three-year government bonds closed at 2.605% per annum, up 3.3 basis points (1bp = 0.01 percentage point) from the previous trading day. The yield on ten-year bonds rose 4.3 basis points to 2.912% per annum. The yields on five-year and two-year bonds climbed by 3.4 and 3.5 basis points, closing at 2.721% and 2.556% per annum, respectively. Long-term bonds also saw yields rise across the board, with the twenty-year bond yield up 4.2 basis points to 2.887% per annum. The thirty-year and fifty-year bonds increased by 3.6 and 3.5 basis points, closing at 2.804% and 2.655% per annum, respectively.
On this day, the Bank of Korea's Monetary Policy Committee decided to maintain the policy rate at 2.50% per annum at its monetary policy meeting, marking the third consecutive rate freeze following those in July and August. The market viewed this decision as being influenced by concerns that a rate cut could further overheat the real estate market and weaken the Korean won. As a result, it is widely expected that a rate cut will also be difficult to achieve at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for the following month.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
