South Korea's central bank kept its base interest rate steady for an 11th straight month on Friday, as expected. Market participants believe the BOK is waiting for more data before it cuts rates again to support a slow recovery hobbled by weak exports. The Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee left its base rate unchanged at 1.50 percent, a media official said without elaborating. Governor Lee Ju-yeol is due to hold a news conference from 11:20 am (0220 GMT).
Investors will look to the governor's news conference for clues on future policy direction - especially to see whether Friday's decision was unanimous as it was the first meeting for four new board members at the BOK. "I see two reasons for the rate hold today. First is that there has not been a decision on structural reforms. Also, only three weeks and three days have passed since the last decision, and there are new board members, so it is difficult to reach a policy change within that short period of time," said Shin Eol, a fixed-income analyst at Hyundai Securities. Shin sees a June rate cut.
All but two of the 26 analysts surveyed by Reuters this week had forecast the Bank of Korea would leave its base rate unchanged at Friday's meeting but a majority of respondents see the bank cutting soon. The won erased some of its losses against the dollar after the decision, trading down 0.6 percent as of 0112 GMT. June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.06 points to trade at 110.36.
The recovery has been bumpy, with private consumption recording a downturn in the first quarter while exports have been falling since last year, making it difficult for the economy to gain any growth traction. Against this dreary backdrop, calls for the central bank to act have been growing. An ongoing restructuring of South Korea's shipping and shipbuilding industries has only intensified this pressure, as the sector faces a potential credit crunch which the BOK is expected to prevent by providing capital.
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