Spot trading of foreign currencies by banks in South Korea fell nearly 10 percent on-quarter in the third quarter largely due to a cut in won-yuan transactions prompted by the country's dwindling exports to China, central bank data showed Thursday.

Daily spot trading volume came to $19.69 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, according to the Bank of Korea.

The Q3 tally marks a 9.7 percent drop from a record $21.8 billion in the second quarter.

The drop was mostly attributed to a 29.3 percent plunge in won-yuan transactions from three months earlier, while exchanges between won and other foreign currencies also shrank.

"Won-yuan trading shrank greatly from the previous quarter as transactions slowed ahead of selecting a won-yuan direct exchange market operator (on June 26), while the country's trade volume also dwindled amid economic slowdowns in newly emerging countries, including China," the BOK said in a press release.

South Korea and China launched the direct exchange market for their currencies last December.

Overall daily foreign exchange turnover also slipped 0.7 percent on-quarter to $49.38 billion in the July-September period as the large drop in spot trading more than offset a 6.3 percent gain in forward foreign exchange trading. (Yonhap)