Libya unrest wont affect Korean financial firms: regulator

Libya's political unrest will have only a limited impact on Korean financial companies as they have no exposure to the North African country, the financial regulator said Tuesday.

"As of the end of December, local financial companies did not have any outstanding loans to the country and owed no money," the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement.

"As local financial firms held no exposure or borrowing, Libya's political instability will have a minimal effect on their financial health."

In a bid to prevent the Libyan unrest from stirring volatilities in the stock and foreign exchange markets, the regulator will step up supervision of local firms' foreign exchange risk management, the FSS said.

Libya has been embroiled in widening mass protests against the four-decade old despotic government of Moammar Gadhafi. Government crackdowns on the mass protests in several cities were reported to have killed more than 300 people.

Spooked by Libya's widening protests, the local key index KOSPI ended 1.76 percent down to close at the lowest level in 11 weeks. The Korean won also weakened 0.85 percent to end at 1,127.6 won against the U.S. dollar. (Yonhap News)