South Korea will extend its onshore foreign-exchange trading hours and ease rules on foreign traders next month, in a push to advance its money market.
The country’s forex market will operate from 9 a.m. through 2 a.m. local time on weekdays under a new regulation that will take effect Oct. 4, more than doubling its daily trading hours that end at 3:30 p.m., the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement Monday.
The new rule will also allow non-Korean financial institutions to participate in the domestic forex market without opening a local branch in South Korea, the ministry said. Currently, registered foreign institutions are required to open a branch to be a qualified forex trader in the country.
The revised regulation would help foreign financial institutions and their client investors get better access to the local forex market, the ministry said.
Limited forex trading in South Korea has long been a stumbling block to the country’s push to be upgraded to a developed market by MSCI, a change that could attract more foreign capital.