Articles by Choi Si-young
Choi Si-young
siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com-
Foreigners net sellers of Korean stocks in Jan.
Foreigners were net sellers of Korean shares in January, ending their buying spree in December last year as investor appetite soured on signals from the US Federal Reserve that it was accelerating its policy tightening measures, data showed Monday. In January, foreigners offloaded a net 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in shares, having bought 629 billion won in the benchmark Kospi market while shedding 2.3 trillion won in the junior Kosdaq. They purchased bonds of 3.6 trillion won in the same p
Market Feb. 14, 2022
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Banking giants set to deliver record dividends
South Korea’s four major bank holding firms are expected to hand out record-high dividends for their highest net profits made last year thanks to a pandemic recovery, officials said Sunday. Total dividends from the four companies -- KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group and Woori Financial Group -- are estimated to be 3.8 trillion won ($3.1 billion), about 26 percent of the combined net profit of 14.5 trillion won. “We have enough capital flowing in to c
Economy Feb. 13, 2022
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As Kospi rally nears end, money moves to safer options
Korean investors are pulling out money from their investment accounts to reallocate it to safer options such as money market funds as they seek to ride out volatility gripping the local stock market, data showed Sunday. As of Thursday, credit-backed loans for stock investments stood at 21 trillion won ($17.5 billion), down about 4 trillion won from a record high of 25 trillion won in September last year. Since then, the deposit borrowed from brokerages on investors’ credit has been shri
Market Feb. 7, 2022
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Goldman Sachs expects two BOK rate hikes in H2
Goldman Sachs expects the Bank of Korea to raise its benchmark rate twice more in the second half of this year to 1.75 percent, and later continue hikes to 2.5 percent, according to a report published by the US bank Friday. “We continue to expect the rate curve to steepen along with gradual monetary policy normalization,” the report said. Korea continues to see elevated inflation but the risk is contained by moderating import prices, weakening housing prices, and measures to counte
Economy Feb. 4, 2022
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[KH Explains] Why do spinoff IPOs anger South Korean investors?
The market debut of LG Energy Solution last month was literally a festive event, with investors in and out of the country pouring in an astronomical sum of money to buy new shares of the company eyeing to be the world’s top battery maker. But shareholder rights activists in South Korea say that the mega deal was another case in which a split-off was done intentionally to take the battery subsidiary public, a process that undermined the interests of parent company shareholders.
Market Feb. 4, 2022
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Card spending on course to surpass W1,000tr this year
South Korean consumers are ramping up credit and debit card balances and their spending could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($832 billion) for the first time this year, data showed Friday. South Koreans spent 977 trillion won on credit and debit cards last year, up 10 percent from the previous year. The uptrend in spending has been the norm since 2018, when it totaled at 810 trillion won, according to the Credit Finance Association, a group of local card companies. “COVID-19 is accelerating
Economy Feb. 4, 2022
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Korea’s stock market cap falls fifth-fastest in Jan.
South Korea ranked fifth among 47 countries globally in the drop in stock market capitalization between December last year and January this year, amid US Fed rate hike worries, a local brokerage said Wednesday. The country’s benchmark Kospi and junior Kosdaq stood at about $1.9 trillion in market value on Jan. 26, down from $2.1 trillion on Dec. 31, 2021, in a 10 percent fall, according to Daishin Securities, which cited Bloomberg data. Russia saw the greatest drop at 16 percent, followe
Market Feb. 2, 2022
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LG Energy Solution debuts as Korea’s No. 2 company
LG Energy Solution became South Korea’s second-most valuable company, as the electric vehicle battery maker began trading shares on the benchmark Kospi well above the initial public offering price of 300,000 won ($250) apiece on its debut Thursday. The shares closed at 505,000 won after hitting 598,000 won, falling short of reaching the daily price ceiling of 780,000 won. But shares on the company’s market debut day put its market value at 118 trillion won, second only to Sam
Market Jan. 27, 2022
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Court blocks Namyang Dairy boss from pursuing side deal
The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday granted an injunction to local private equity firm Hahn & Co. to stop Namyang Dairy Products from selling a majority stake to a third company. The court ruled that Namyang should cut all ties to Dayou Winia Group. It had attempted to sell a majority stake in a deal reached with Dayou in November last year, effectively freezing out Hahn & Co., with which it had previously agreed to sell the stake. Namyang had tried to fill its key position
Economy Jan. 26, 2022
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KRX chief vows investor protection over Kakao stock options row
The Korea Exchange will work to bring about a transparent market that affords retail investors better protection from market abusers and helps companies find the support they need to go public and compete with global peers, the bourse operator’s chief said Monday. “We see rebuilding market trust as key to that mission. This is an unprecedented time in that we have so much attention drawn to us,” Chairman and CEO Sohn Byung-doo said at a press conference, referring to recent ro
Market Jan. 25, 2022
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Kospi hits 13-month low on US rate hike worries
Worries over the sooner-than-expected rate hike by the US led South Korea’s benchmark Kospi to dip below 2,800 Monday, a first since Dec. 23, 2020, when it closed at 2,759. The Kospi fell 42.29 points or 1.49 percent from Friday to close at 2,792, sparking concerns over a prolonged slump. “Investors fear reduced liquidity. And the markets are catching up with the Fed, which has signaled two things: an earlier rate hike and tapering of the pandemic-era market support,” said Oh
Market Jan. 24, 2022
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Watchdog to look into stock options row at Kakao Pay
The Financial Supervisory Service is looking to scrutinize whether executives’ decision to exercise stock options that prompted a stock plunge at Kakao Pay was a sign of risk management deficiencies the financial services firm should address, according to an FSS official. The CEO and two other executives at Kakao Pay stepped down Thursday amid criticism that their exercise of stock options in December last year, a month after the firm listed, brought an unwarranted stock dip. The C
Market Jan. 21, 2022
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LG Energy Solution IPO brings record fees
An 11-member brokerage syndicate underwriting an initial public offering of LG Energy Solution next week is expected to raise a whopping 89 billion won ($75 million) in management fees following the record-breaking retail bids, made on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to regulatory filings on Thursday. The fees account for 0.7 percent of 12.7 trillion won that the electric vehicle battery maker is expected to raise from a total of 42.5 million shares priced at 300,000 won apiece. Separately, th
Market Jan. 20, 2022
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Kakao’s spinoff IPOs losing momentum
Kakao, one of South Korea’s two largest internet giants along with Naver, is seen as holding back its plans to float shares of key subsidiaries in listings, amid looming market disappointment over controversial sell-offs by executives. Earlier this month, CEOs of Kakao Pay and KakaoBank were accused of driving down stock prices with sell-offs that critics say should not have taken place right after their listings when their shares ran high. This prompted regulators to vow greater protecti
Market Jan. 20, 2022
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LG Energy Solution IPO draws record retail bids
Over 114 trillion won ($95.5 billion) in cash deposits from about 4.4 million retail investors flowed into a mega initial public offering by LG Energy Solution during a two-day subscription that ended Wednesday, reflecting explosive interest in the company’s market debut. The world’s second-largest battery maker has already attracted the highest amount of deposits from a total of 1,988 domestic and foreign institutional investors, which pledged some 15,000 trillion won in total to b
Market Jan. 19, 2022
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