Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho asked companies Tuesday to refrain from excessively raising wages for employees as the move could further accelerate inflation. Choo made the request during a meeting with members of the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF), including Sohn Kyung-shik, federation chief and CJ Group chairman, and Rhee In-yong, president of Samsung Electronics Co. "We're concerned that...

Seoul shares ended higher for the second straight session Monday, as investors speculate the pace of the Federal Reserve's rate hikes could be slower than expected amid global recession woes. The local currency sharply rose against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 35.32 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 2,401.92. On Friday, the KOSPI rebounded 2.3 percent to 2...

The official commemorative coins issued by the Qatar Central Bank to celebrate the 2022 Qatar World Cup were showcased in Seoul on the sidelines of a ceremony held to launch limited edition medals to commemorate the Korea-Japan World Cup held 20 years ago. A set of 24 gold and silver legal tender coins were released by the Middle Eastern country last month as part of FIFA‘s Official Host Country ...

Risks stemming from South Korea’s investor debt binge is a key reason behind the local benchmark stock index’s recent lackluster performance, analysts said Monday. This fueled concerns of a possible market crash as the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes have been increasing debt burden on retail investors. “Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea saw a sharp gain in househ...

By Lee Seung-ku ( seungku99@heraldcorp.com )

About 4 out of 10 companies in South Korea saw their raw material prices jump 20 percent or more this year amid fast-rising oil and commodity bills, a central bank survey showed Monday. According to the survey by the Bank of Korea on 570 firms, 40.3 percent said so, with 8.1 percent saying that the prices jumped 50 percent or higher compared with a year earlier. With the raw material price incr...

A top official of the Bank of Korea (BOK) will attend a meeting of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) this week in the Netherlands and discuss global cooperation, Seoul's central bank said Monday. Bank of Korea (BOK) Deputy Gov. Lee Seung-heon will depart for the European country on Tuesday to join the general assembly of the FSB in Amsterdam on Thursday, according to the BOK. The FSB is a con...

Seoul shares opened higher Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street last week, with investors staying cautious about high inflation and further rate hikes. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 10.35 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,376.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.7 percent to 31,500.68 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed...

Standard Chartered Bank Korea is offering a special interest rate of up to 1.9 percent per annum, before tax, to new customers opening a checking account by the end of this month. Account holders are eligible for the special rate up to 60 days from opening the account, as long as they keep the balance between 100 million won ($77,200) and 2 billion won. The rate is adjusted each day depending on...

South Korea’s key stock index and its secondary bourse both saw the biggest drop among 40 global indexes, including inflation-hit Argentina’s Merval S&P, data showed Sunday, prompting concerns of a possible market crash. From the end of last month to Friday, the nation’s main bourse, Kospi, fell 11.89 percent from 2,685.90 to 2,366.60, while the secondary, tech-heavy Kosdaq dropped 15.01 percent...

South Korean stocks rebounded sharply on Friday from a 19-month low the previous session amid growing concerns about a recession. The local currency rose against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) spiked 52.28 points, or 2.26 percent, to close at 2,366.60. Trading volume was moderate at 643.76 million shares worth 8.32 trillion won ($6.41 billion), with gainers far out...

SEJONG -- Economic policymakers on Friday said they would ramp up pressure on gas stations in a bid to ease inflationary pressure from surging energy costs, as soon as an expanded fuel tax cut goes into effect next week. The government announced last week that it would further increase tax cuts on fuel consumption from the current 30 percent to 37 percent, the maximum legal cap. “In consultatio...

Consumption of gasoline and diesel in South Korea jumped more than 40 percent in May from a month earlier, as expanded fuel tax subsidies channeled pent-up demand from the pandemic, data showed Friday. The combined consumption of the two fuel types reached 24.82 million barrels, up 43 percent from 17.35 million barrels logged in April, according to the data by Petronet, an online petroleum infor...

South Korea's trade deficit is expected to widen this month compared with a month earlier due mainly to fewer working days and a trucker strike, the finance ministry said Friday. The country had national holidays for the June 1 local elections and Memorial Day on June 6, and truckers staged a weeklong strike over a minimum wage scheme and other state supports earlier this month, disrupting and d...

Seoul shares opened higher Friday after the market plunged to a 19-month low the previous session amid growing concerns about a recession. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.80 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,326.12 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the US stock market inched up on the second day of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress, d...