Asian Currency Declines Led by Korean Won as Kim Jong Il Dies
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South Korea’s won dropped the most among emerging-market currencies after the official Korean Central News Agency reported North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il had died.
Kim, 70, passed away on Dec. 17 of exhaustion brought on by a sudden illness while on a domestic train trip, the news agency said. The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies excluding the yen, fell 0.2 percent and the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of shares declined 1.8 percent. France’s AAA credit outlook was lowered to negative on Dec. 16 by Fitch Ratings, which also put Spain and Italy on review for a downgrade citing Europe’s failure to find a “comprehensive solution” to its debt crisis.