South Korea sees US shutdown as short-lived

South Korea's finance ministry saw the partial shutdown of the U.S. government as a short-lived risk given past experiences. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement on Tuesday that the partial shutdown of the U.S. federal administration was caused by failure in Congress to agree on the stopgap funding bill plan. Given the past shutdowns in the U.S. continuing for around 6.5 days on average, it was widely expected among market players that the problems would be solved in the end, showing no big fluctuations in the financial market, the ministry said. If the shutdown continues only for a short period of time as seen in the past, it would have no big impacts on the local financial market and the domestic economy, the ministry noted. The benchmark KOSPIC index edged 0.1 percent as foreign investors kept their winning streak, downplaying the negative factor. The ministry, however, cautioned that the U.S. private consumption could shrink due to the possible reduction in the fiscal expenditure, noting that it would affect negatively the South Korean economy. The prolonged shutdown of the U.S. government can be linked to the U.S. sovereign debt consolidation issue, the ministry said, adding that there remained a possibility for the tapering of the U. S. bond purchases to boost volatilities in emerging markets.