Strategists are raising their forecasts for South Korea's won at a faster pace than any other currency in the world on bets that the country's new president will tolerate appreciation driven by capital inflows and an economic recovery.
Analysts have bolstered their median predictions for the end of next year by 3.3 per cent since September 30, the most among 65 global currency pairs tracked by Bloomberg.
The won, which has advanced 7.3 per cent versus the American dollar this year, will strengthen an additional 2.7 per cent in 12 months to its highest level since August 2008, a Bloomberg survey shows.
Park Geun-hye, who is the daughter of the nation's longest-serving dictator and takes office in February after winning election on December 19, has called for curbing the dominance of conglomerates such as Samsung and Hyundai that account for most of the nation's exports to support smaller competitors.
"The new government may be a little more tolerant of won gains," said Eric Stein, a portfolio manager at Eaton Vance Management in Boston, which oversees US$198 billion including won-denominated assets.
"The won remains an attractive currency for us to invest in as it's still undervalued vis-à-vis the dollar, the euro and the yen."
The won is the best performer of the 11 most-traded currencies in Asia this year, fuelled by a trade surplus and rising foreign investment.
Strategists at HSBC Holdings raised their estimate for next year for the won this month to 1,030 per dollar from 1,050 because they forecast less intervention by the central bank and that the improving economic outlook will attract overseas capital.
While the central bank governor Kim Choong-soo said last week that "appropriate" action on won volatility would be taken if needed, such a warning was aimed to slow down the currency rally rather than reverse it, according to Erik Lueth, a senior regional economist at Royal Bank of Scotland.
* Bloomberg News
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
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Results
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Easter%20Sunday
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The%20Roundup
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'Midnights'
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POSSIBLE ENGLAND EURO 2020 SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson.
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier, Joe Gomez, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Tyrone Mings, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph.
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Forwards: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tammy Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh136,521 VAT and Dh166,464 VAT
On sale: now
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
