CNY/KRW - Live Converters & Chart

Chinese Yuan (CNY) outlook

Increasingly, the yuan is being used as a barometer for progress made on US-China trade talks. For that reason, it fell sharply in the weeks leading up to this report (May-17).

Trade tensions were ramped up in May after President Trump announced higher tariffs on Chinese goods, after China retaliated with tariffs of its own, and then after Trump placed Huawei on the "entity list," thereby making it impossible for the tech giant to do business with US firms.

Between May-6 and May-17, the yuan weakened in the offshore market by 3 percent (a considerable amount for a government-controlled currency) to a 5-month low of 6.95 per USD. Onshore yuan, which is more easily controlled by the PBOC, reached towards 6.92.

All eyes now are on the 7.0 exchange rate. Will the PBOC allow the yuan beyond that? An RBC strategist believes that’s unlikely in the short term because a weaker yuan would create more friction between China and the US. Trump often alleges that China purposefully weakens its currency to gain a trade advantage.

“A rapid conclusion to the US–China trade deal and … complete rollback of tariffs ... would be an effective catalyst to drive RMB higher,” Citibank said.

South Korean Won (KRW) outlook

The South Korean won has been the worst-performing Asian currency in 2019.

At the time of writing, while most emerging Asian currencies were showing year-to-date gains against the dollar, the won had lost 1.8 percent, with weakness driven by falling exports and an alarming drop in South Korean inflation, which themselves drove expectations for an interest rate cut by the Bank of Korea, even though the BoK said in March that policy easing was not yet warranted.

In early April, at 1134 to the dollar, the won was trading near the weaker boundary of its trading range, which existed between 1110 and 1140 (this having contained most price action in the July-18 to April-19 period).

In April, TradingEconomics.com predicted that USD/KRW would rise to 1164 by April 2020. That's a level last seen in January 2017.

The CNY/KRW mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news, nobody except the largest banks and businesses can get exchange rates close to this mid-rate. It is actually just the theoretical half-way point (hence mid-rate) between the last rate at which the CNY / KRW was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.