The Bank of Korea holds an emergency meeting after Yoon lifted martial law

The Bank of Korea holds an emergency meeting after Yoon lifted martial law

Signage for the Bank of Korea is displayed on the main central bank building in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday, August 16, 2018. South Korea’s central bank raised interest rates for the second day in a row on Thursday in an attempt to reduce consumer inflation to 13 from 13. The company hit its annual highs and further raised its forecast for price increases to the highest level since 2008.

Jean Chung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Bank of Korea is holding an emergency meeting after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol unexpectedly lifted a martial law declaration overnight.

The central bank was scheduled to convene an extraordinary board meeting on Wednesday around 9 a.m. local time. Last week, the BOK surprisingly cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points.

Around that time, local news agency Yonhap reported that South Korea’s financial regulator said it was ready to allocate 10 trillion won ($7.07 billion) for a stock market stabilization fund at any time.

Late Tuesday evening, Yoon declared a state of emergency and mobilized the army. Within hours, the National Assembly voted to repeal the emergency decree, forcing Yoon to lift martial law early Wednesday morning. Yoon announced that the deployed military units had also been withdrawn.

“In our view, the negative impact on the economy and financial market could be short-lived as uncertainties about the political and economic environment could be quickly mitigated through a proactive policy response,” Citi analysts said in a note.

South Korea’s Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok promised on Wednesday to pump unlimited liquidity into the financial markets if necessary in order to stabilize them.

South Korean stocks saw significant swings in the US on Tuesday amid political unrest in Korea. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), which tracks more than 90 large and mid-sized companies in South Korea, fell as much as 7% and hit a 52-week low before paring losses to close 1.6% lower .

Trading on the South Korean stock markets began as usual at 9:00 a.m. KST.

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