S.Korean won holds firm after extremely thin trade

SEOUL, Sept 3 - The South Korean won held firm against the dollar on Thursday, but trading was extremely slow as traders kept a wary eye on volatile stock markets and the country's upgraded economic growth data was no surprise.

The won ended local trade at 1,245.2/7.2 per dollar, compared with Wednesday's domestic close of 1,249.9, after trading in a narrow range from 1,241.9 to 1,248.4.

"We had a set of several conflicting factors today such as the drop in New York stocks and foreign share sales in Seoul while Chinese shares jumped," said a domestic bank dealer.

The Bank of Korea said before trading started that the country's economy grew faster than earlier thought during the second quarter, but the news failed to lift the won as the finance minister already revealed the numbers on Wednesday.

Traders generally ignored a sharp rise in Chinese shares as they maintained a cautious stance about prospects in global stock markets, which have recently been fluctuating wildly.

In Seoul, the main stock market index ended almost unchanged as foreign net selling, worth 148 billion won, offset a more than 4 percent gain in Chinese shares.

0600 GMT 0020 GMT Prev close Won 1,245.2/7.2 1,247.4/8.0 1,249.9 Yen/won 13.4747/051 13.5366/475 13.4539/637 KOSPI 1,613.53 1,610.57 1,613.16