South Korean Won Rallies With Malaysian Ringgit as Oil Advances

South Korea’s won led gains among Asian currencies as a rally in energy prices boosted demand for higher-yielding assets.

The won climbed for the first time in three days as a gauge of emerging-market shares headed for its longest winning streak in 16 months. The ringgit strengthened as Brent crude’s advance for a fourth day brightened the outlook for Malaysia, which derives a fifth of government revenue from oil-related sources.

“A recovery in risk appetite is sending emerging currencies stronger,” said Wu Mingze, a foreign-exchange trader in Singapore at INTL FCStone Inc., a Nasdaq-listed global payments-service provider. “Commodities are rallying, lifting stock prices and commodity currencies.”

The won jumped 1 percent to close at 1,092.35 per dollar in Seoul as trading resumed after Korea’s financial markets were shut Monday for a holiday. The currency rallied in each of the previous three weeks. The ringgit was trading 0.5 percent stronger at 3.989 per dollar in a second day of gains, after reaching a one-month high of 3.9850 earlier.

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South Korea’s 10-year government bonds rose, with the yield dropping one basis point from Friday to 1.40 percent, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. Malaysia’s 10-year yield was steady at 3.49 percent, prices from Bursa Malaysia show.