Financial market volatility may expand further: BOK chief

South Korea's central bank chief said Friday that the local financial market will likely face wider volatility in the coming months due to lingering uncertainties abroad.

With global financial markets, including Wall Street suffering a stock rout, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index nose-dived 14.8 percent in October alone, and the secondary index for the tech-laden KOSDAQ market plummeted 23.4 percent.

Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol (Yonhap)

"Escalating global downside risks have caused the recent worldwide tumble, but South Korea experienced a sharper fall and a bigger foreign capital outflow than other countries," Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said at a breakfast meeting with heads of local banks in Seoul.

"As external uncertainties remain far higher, volatility in the South Korean financial market may expand further in the coming months," he said.

But he noted that the recent stock rout was totally different from past financial jitters, including the one in the 2008 financial crisis.

Despite the weekslong losing streak in the stock market, the bond and foreign exchange markets have stayed relatively calm.

Since mid-October, foreigners have turned to net buyers in the local debt market, Lee added.

"The BOK will not let its guard down and keep vigilance over the fluctuation of global financial markets," said the country's top monetary policymaker. "If necessary, I will take market-stabilizing actions in close cooperation with the government." (Yonhap)