The South Korean bourse shed some earlier gains late Wednesday morning as institutions sold off stocks. The won rose against the dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 2.71 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,368.04 as of 11:20 a.m. Institutions sold a net 74 billion won ($65 million), outweighing net buying worth 72 billion won by foreigners and individuals. Analysts didn't ...

South Korea's stock funds have chalked up net inflows for the second straight month, data showed Wednesday, as the local stock market is undergoing a period of correction. After touching a record high in late July, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index has been on the skids on foreign investors' massive profit-taking before regaining some ground in recent sessions. KOSPI closed up 0.44 percent a...

The number of heavy debtors in South Korea stood at about 3.9 million people in June, a report showed Wednesday, reflecting growing potential for default risks among desperate borrowers. The number of debtors who have borrowed money from more than three financial institutions has been on a steady rise. It stood at 3.38 million in 2013, 3.47 million in 2014 and 3.65 million in 2015. According to...

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.22 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,367.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Tuesday (US time) The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.90 percent to 21,899.89 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 1.36 percent to 6,...

South Korea's main stock market has seen a surge in the number of listed financial companies over the past decade, with the minor bourse posting a sharp rise in listings of chipmakers and pharmaceutical firms, data showed Wednesday. According to the data by the Korea Exchange, financial companies listed on the country's major bourse numbered 116 as of the end of July, up 59 from 10 years earlier...

South Korea's exports to Vietnam surged nearly 50 percent in the first seven months of 2017, customs data showed Wednesday, an increase that is likely to put the Southeast Asian country among the top three shipment destinations for locally made goods. According to Korea Customs Service, exports to Vietnam for the January-July period totaled $26.95 billion, up a sharp 49.8 percent from the same p...

Non-performing loans at South Korean banks fell 0.13 percentage point in June from three months earlier, as banks bolstered efforts to clear bad debt, official data showed Wednesday. Bad loans held by local banks reached 21.8 trillion won ($19.2 billion) at the end of June, or 1.25 percent of total lending, according to the quarterly data by the Financial Supervisory Service. Bad loans extended...

South Korea and the United States reached no agreement on possible amendments to their free trade pact, Seoul's top negotiator said Tuesday. The U.S. demanded that Seoul and Washington quickly begin negotiations on amending the free trade agreement (FTA), citing a spike in its goods trade deficit with South Korea after the pact went into effect, Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong said. Still, South ...

Chief negotiator Kim Hyun-chong says Korea’s position made ‘very clear’

South Korea’s top fiscal policymaker said in parliament on Tuesday that the government would keep the national debt under 700 trillion won ($616.7 billion) in 2017, amid concerns over rising government expenditure. In a meeting of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget & Accounts, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said the volume of govern...

Major banks are holding off their second-half employment notice, pressed between their financial need for downsizing and the Moon Jae-in administration‘s drive for job creation. While the central bank and a partially state-controlled bank vowed to expand recruitment, most commercial banks prolonged their ambiguous silence, apparently reluctant to make pre-emptive moves. The Bank of Korea said T...

The number of Chinese tourists in South Korea declined nearly 70 percent on-year last month, marking a drop for five straight months following China's ban on sales of Korea-bound trips amid a diplomatic row over the deployment of a US anti-missile system here, government data showed Tuesday. The tally of Chinese visitors came to 281,263 last month, down 69.3 percent from 917,519 recorded the pre...

Analyses by stock market watchers have made the case for Kosdaq-listed powerhouses’ recent attempts to move into the Kospi market, including Celltrion's

South Korean stocks closed higher Tuesday as institutions helped offset net selling by foreigners and individuals. The won traded higher against the dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 10.33 points, or 0.44 percent, to close at 2,365.33. Trade volume was moderate at 245.76 million shares worth 3.827 trillion won ($3.3 billion), with winners outnumbering losers 437 to 364...

The number of South Koreans in debt beyond their means surged nearly 48 percent in the past three years amid low interest rates and relaxed real estate regulations, data by the office of National Assembly Speaker Chung Sey-kyun showed Tuesday. As of the end of June, 1.18 million people in the country had a debt service ratio of 100 percent or higher, up 47.5 percent from the end of 2014. The num...