First with South Korea favouring weak currency

Reuters squarely beat all local competitors on Feb 25 when South Korea`s new finance minister indicated a major shift in the government stance on foreign exchange policy by saying a cheap won could help its export-oriented economy. The comments, which came during a meeting of senior government officials, suggested an end to heavy government intervention to support the Korean currency, trading at its lowest level in a decade. Korea beat competitors by at least six minutes, and the currency held at lows on the news as investors stuck to dollar holdings.