Won Outperforms USD Sell-Off, But Tech Equity Weakness May Curb Further Gains

1 month USD/KRW finished the NY session just under 1427, well off early session highs from yesterday near 1445. The won slightly outperformed broader USD weakness (the 1 month NDF up 1.19% in won terms, versus 1% DXY fall). Note spot ended yesterday at 1433.25. Overall, the pair continues to respect recent ranges. 1445 represents the top end of the range, but in recent weeks we haven't been able to get much below 1420 on the downside.

• The overnight lead from offshore equity markets was positive, and this helped pull USD/KRW lower. However, late session earnings misses from a number of US companies (Alphabet, Microsoft) has hit US futures in early trade in Asia. Nasdaq futures are off by around 1.90% at this stage.
• There are quite a few earnings results for South Korea equities today as well, with SK Hynix, LG & Samsung SDI, among others, all due.
• Earlier, South Korean business sentiment slipped further to 73 for manufacturing, from 75, while non-manufacturing edged down to 78 form 81. Both series have been trending down this year, although more so manufacturing. We are still comfortably above early 2020 lows.