Kospi hits a 6-year high on foreign buying

South Korean stocks on Tuesday hit a six-year high, on strong buying from foreign investors with the global stock market rally, brokerage data showed.The nation’s benchmark Kospi closed at 2,196.85, rising by 1.06 percent from the previous session. The figure is the highest since the index closed at 2,200.73 on May 3, 2011, according to the Korea Exchange. The tech-heavy Kosdaq also went up 0.95 percent to close at 632.57.Foreign investors net bought 651.4 billion won worth stocks, pulling

April 25, 2017

Hyundai Samho lands W300b IMM Private Equity investment

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, a shipbuilding affiliate of Hyundai Heavy Industries, has landed a 300 billion won ($265.7 million) pre-initial public offering investment with IMM Private Equity. Under the agreement with IMM PE, HSHI said it will issue 5.36 million new convertible preferred shares, with the private equity firm paying out 300 billion won in total to acquire the stocks at 56,000 won per share.The new deal will bring Hyundai Samho’s total market value to 2.5 trillion won.&nbs

April 25, 2017

Daewoo E&C back in black following record Q1 performance

Daewoo Engineering & Construction has recorded its largest quarterly operating profit in the company’s history, posting operating profits of roughly 22.1 billion won ($19.5 million) and a net income of 191.9 billion won, according to the company Tuesday. Despite recording operating and net losses in the fourth quarter of last year, Daewoo E&C said the profits achieved in its housing and construction sectors rose by 171 percent compared to the same period last year, thrusting t

April 25, 2017

Mirae's 4 ETFs excel in HK

Mirae Asset Global Investments, an asset management unit under Mirae Asset Global Investments Group, said its four exchange-traded funds have shown their competitive edge against other ETF products on the Hong Kong Exchange.Mirae Asset’s four leverage and inverse ETFs, or L&I ETFs, that traces Hang Seng index comprised of H-shares on the Hong Kong Exchange, ranked second in terms of the market share in L&I ETFs’ accumulated turnover as of April 19 since their listing on the H

April 25, 2017

Credit card companies’ challenges and responses in the fourth industrial revolution

Since the fourth industrial revolution was discussed in the World Economic Forum in January, 2016, the academic circle and the media have expressed interests in key drivers of the fourth industrial revolution including biometrics, big data and artificial intelligence. In addition, Google DeepMind’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo came under the spotlight with its unexpected moves in Go games against Lee Se-dol in March, 2016.This helped many agree that the fourth industrial revolut

April 25, 2017

Korean shares up in late morning trade

South Korean stocks traded higher late Tuesday morning, led by gains in tech and autos.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 9.11 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,182.85 as of 11:15 a.m.Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board. Top market cap Samsung Electronics rose 1.84 percent, while SK hynix, a major chipmaker, shed 1.15 percent.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, gained 2.12 percent and its smaller affiliate, Kia Motors, fell 0.2 percent.SK Innovation, the No. 1 ref

April 25, 2017

Foreign buying boosts Korean benchmark index

Foreign investors bought South Korean stocks for a third straight session, fueling expectations that the country's benchmark index could break this year's record high, brokerage data showed Tuesday.Foreign buying between Thursday and Monday came to nearly 700 billion won ($617 million), according to data from Korea Exchange, the local bourse operator. Foreigners' buying spree of local stocks came despite heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons p

April 25, 2017

Life insurers to face pressure on adoption of new global accounting standard

The reported capitalization of South Korean life insurers is expected to face pressure if they adopt a new international accounting standard, credit appraiser Moody's Investors Services said Tuesday.South Korean life insurers have been preparing to report financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards 17, which will go into effect in South Korea from 2021.  Stella Ng, a vice president of Moody's, said the new global accounting standard will require life insurers to meas

April 25, 2017

Korea's finance minister talks with head of Citigroup

South Korea's finance minister held talks with the head of global investment bank Citigroup Inc. on Monday (local time) to share his views on global recovery trends and its impact on Asia's fourth-largest economy.At the meeting with Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat in New York, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the South Korean economy has managed to pull off modest growth led by brisk exports which posted the fifth straight month of gains since November on the back of increased global demand.The uptu

April 25, 2017

Sales of 4 credit rating firms edge down in 2016

The combined sales of South Korea's four credit rating companies fell 0.2 percent on year in 2016, due to a decline in sales of corporate bonds, data showed Tuesday. Total sales for four credit rating firms -- NICE Investors Service, Korea Investors Service, Korea Ratings and Seoul Credit Rating & Information -- stood at 82.76 billion won ($73.2 million) last year, compared to 82.95 billion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. Last year, sales

April 25, 2017

Stocks open higher on gains in tech and autos

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, led by gains in tech firms and automakers.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 2.39 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,176.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded higher, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 1.12 percent and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, remaining flat.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, moved up 1.06 percent, while AmorePacific, the country's top cosmetics maker, shed 2.91 percent following weak

April 25, 2017

‘Interest margins drive banks' earnings surprise’

The earnings surprise of major commercial banks in South Korea in the first quarter was partly driven by their improved net interest margins, data showed Monday. The combined net profit of the four major commercial banks -- Shinhan Bank, Kookmin Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank -- in the first quarter came to 2.28 trillion won ($2.01 billion), a 22.3 percent rise on-year, according to earnings reports by each bank last week. Excluding one-off profits, such as sell-offs of bank branches or loan

April 24, 2017

Seoul stocks up on risk-off sentiment

South Korean stocks finished higher on Monday, as investors' concerns over a French presidential election race abated to some degree, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 8.7 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 2,173.74. Trade volume was moderate at 367 million shares worth 4.2 trillion won ($3.72 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 509 to 287.The local stock market opened a tad higher on news that centrist Emmanuel

April 24, 2017

Korean shares up in late morning trade

South Korean stocks traded higher late Monday morning, led by gains in tech and banking stocks.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 4 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,169.04 as of 11:15 a.m.Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.Top market cap Samsung Electronics rose 0.54 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, climbed 0.96 percent.Shinhan Financial, the country's most profitable banking group, gained 1.68 percent.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, remained unchan

April 24, 2017

Stocks open higher on gains in tech and banking

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday, led by gains in tech firms and banking firms.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 8.12 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,173.16 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded higher, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.69 percent and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, rising 0.96 percent.Shinhan Financial, the country's most profitable banking group, added 1.36 percent, and Posco, the No. 1 steelmaker, soared 1.85 percent.In

April 24, 2017

KEF urges presidential hopefuls to abide by market economy principles

South Korea's major business lobby Sunday urged presidential hopefuls to observe market economy principles to create an atmosphere favorable to businesses that leads to more investments in facilities and jobs, which it said is the top priority of any presidential hopeful.The Korean Employers Federation (KEF) called on them to introduce measures to help large shareholders defend against hostile takeover bids and use substitute workers during strikes by labor unions. Such measures will be a prereq

April 23, 2017

Korea’s big 30 market cap up 18.7 percent, driven by Samsung

The market capitalization of Korea’s top 30 conglomerates surged nearly 20 percent from a year ago, driven by Samsung Electronics’ share value rally, according to market data compiled by a local corporate tracker Sunday.According to a survey by CEOScore, the combined market value of the 176 listed firms owned by the country’s 30 largest business groups reached 969.9 trillion won ($853.8 billion) as of Friday, up 18.7 percent from 817.3 trillion won tallied on Jan. 1 last year.&

April 23, 2017

BOK chief says US expansionary fiscal policies to help world economy

The governor of South Korea's central bank has said that the US expansionary fiscal policies could help the world economy and that South Korea's exports could continue to improve.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Friday that South Korea's exports have picked up due to a recovery of the world economy. Lee made the comments in a meeting with South Korean reporters after attending the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting in Washington.South Korea's exports rose for the fifth st

April 22, 2017

IMF sees NK tensions having no major impact on S. Korea

Tensions with North Korea haven’t had any significant impact on South Korea’s trade and investment, and a sharp rise in US interest rates is a major risk for Asia’s fourth largest economy going forward, an International Monetary Fund official said Friday.“So far, we have not seen any significant impact on South Korea’s trade investments,” Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific department at the IMF, said during a press briefing, referring to the

April 22, 2017

FSS punishes 4 securities firms for taking W10b worth rebates

The Financial Supervisory Service of Korea announced Friday that it took punitive action against Korea‘s four securities firms for receiving rebates from a securities-financing services company.The firms -- Mirae Asset Daewoo, NH Investment & Securities, Yuanta Securities Korea and Korea Investment & Securities -- were found to have received rebates in return for depositing customers’ money in the money market wrap run by Korea Securities Finance Corp.  Combined they too

April 21, 2017