Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, has overtaken GM Holden Ltd., the Australian unit of General Motors, in sales of cars in Australia for the first time in March, industry data showed Monday.Hyundai Motor maintained fourth place in sales of cars in Australia by selling a total of 8,402 units in March, up 7.6 percent from a year ago. Sales of Hyundai’s Tucson ix35 sports utility vehicle reached 1,529 in March, up 83 percent from a year ago.GM Holden trailed behind Hyundai by sell

SK Innovation, the holding company of SK Group’s energy-related businesses, said Monday it will enter the Chinese electric-car battery market by setting up a joint venture in Beijing by June this year with its two state-run Chinese partners Beijing Automotive Industry Holding and Beijing Electronics Holding. For this plan, the company’s top management, including SK Holdings vice chairman Chey Jae-won, signed an investment letter of intent with their Chinese counterparts on Monday in Beijing. The

POSCO, South Korea’s leading steelmaker, said Monday that its chemical unit broke ground for a plant that will produce so-called “needle coke,” a special type of coke used in making LEDs, solar cells, secondary batteries and electrodes. Needle coke, produced from coal tar pitch, has excellent properties such as a low coefficient of thermal expansion and low electric resistance, according to POSCO.In 2011, POSCO ChemTech Co. set up a joint venture with two Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi Chemic

L’Oreal chose Hongik University in Seoul as its first Asian partner for an academic-industrial collaboration program, called the “L’Oreal Open Innovation Packaging Challenge.”Since 2011, the world’s biggest global cosmetic company has chosen universities around the world to cooperate for packaging design. About 100 students have proposed more than 300 ideas and 12 of them have won prizes so far. Hongik University was selected as the top design university in Asia to carry out the project for six

The nation’s leading steelmaker POSCO dismissed on Monday an executive of its power generation subsidiary POSCO Energy, who reportedly physically and verbally abused a female flight attendant.“The corresponding official has been dismissed from his current post and other follow-up measures will be implemented,” said a POSCO official.The disputed man, identified by his family name Wang, is known to be an executive director in the renewable energy sector of the POSCO subsidiary.The executive was re

 South Korean stocks closed 1.03 percent higher Monday as investors scooped up shares on bargain hunting, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 19.56 points to finish at 1,926.31. Trading volume was low at 254.9 million shares worth 3.6 trillion won (US$3.25 billion) with gainers outnumbering decliners 521 to 283.   "The market gain came as investors scooped up undervalued shares despite the listed firms' w

South Korean stocks traded 0.14 percent higher late Monday morning, led by gains in techs and mobile carriers, analysts said.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 2.64 points to 1,909.39 as of 11:20 a.m.   Tech heavyweight Samsung Electronics edged up 0.07 percent, an top chipmaker SK hynix added 0.35 percent. Leading flat panel manufacturer LG Display advanced 1.17 percent.  Mobile carriers also gathered ground, with No. 1 SK Telecom rising 1.33 percent and KT moving u

South Korean stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street in the previous trading session on investors' bargain hunting, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 7.37 points, or 0.39 percent, to 1914.12 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics adding 0.81 percent and its smaller local rival LG Electronics rising 0.91 percent. Leading auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis ad

Bond owners who were victimized in the 2011-12 savings bank woes filed a group lawsuit against state-controlled Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. over the weekend, the Korea Finance Consumer Federation said Sunday. A total of 573 suitors submitted a class action suit against Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. to the Seoul Administrative Court, claiming severe loss on transaction-frozen deposits in the wake of the savings bank fiasco.Out of the lost 20 billion won, suitors claimed about 900 million won ($