Bank of Korea headquarters in central Seoul (Yonhap)
Bank of Korea headquarters in central Seoul (Yonhap)

The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Tuesday purchased 2 trillion won ($1.76 billion) worth of government bonds as part of its market-stabilizing efforts amid the coronavirus crisis. According to an announcement posted on its website, an auction of the first batch of BOK's 7 trillion won bond purchase program within the first half was closed after attracting bids of more than 4.2 trillion won. The bank bought three-year government bonds at 1.17 trillion won, five-year Treasurys at 140 billion won and 10-year bonds at 690 billion won. Last month, BOK announced its bond-buying plan for the purpose of market stability, while South Korea has increased sales of state debts to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol earlier said the BOK would "actively" deal with its purchase of government bonds. Despite the purchase, the local bond market remained volatile. The return on 10-year Treasurys came to 2.034 percent Tuesday, up 0.6 basis point from the previous session. On the previous day, the yield topped 2 percent for the first time since March 2019. The yield on five-year state bonds rose 9.5 basis points to 1.592 percent on Tuesday. (Yonhap)