No currency in Asia has done better against the dollar this year than the Korean won, which has strengthened to about 1,345 per dollar recently, its firmest level since October 2024, with USD/KRW down nearly 6% year to date.
South Korea has already shipped $709.4 billion worth of goods abroad this year, more than it managed in all of 2025, driven by a 169.6% year-over-year jump in semiconductor exports as AI chip demand keeps climbing. July alone brought in a $42.08 billion current account surplus, the biggest for that month in the data’s history and the second-biggest of any month on record.
South Korea’s FX authorities stepped in with roughly $20 billion in dollar purchases in early September, a move that would tend to slow the won’s climb rather than accelerate it. It’s the same tool Japan has used on its own currency this year, just running in the opposite direction. Tokyo has been buying yen to stop it from falling, while Seoul is buying dollars to keep the won from climbing too fast.
The yuan is drifting the same way, with USD/CNY slipping almost 4% year to date. Goldman Sachs expects Beijing to keep steering it upward by 3% to 5% a year rather than letting market forces set the pace. That steady, managed appreciation gives the rest of the region room to strengthen too, without setting off a round of competitive devaluations.
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A Federal Reserve rate hike this month would work against further gains across Asian currencies broadly, and traders currently put the odds at something like 60% to 67% under new Chair Kevin Warsh.
