South Korean stocks closed 0.3 percent higher on Tuesday as investors hunted for bargains, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.After opening lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.03 points to 1,983.7. Trading volume was moderate at 271.8 million shares worth 3.3 trillion won (US$3 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 408 to 386.The key index staged a rally on Monday after dropping for three consecutive trading sessions."The loca

Go to Starbucks and you will see the baristas wearing mostly green aprons.But it’s not hard to spot a few, depending on the store, who are donned in black.They are the global coffeehouse chain’s proud "Coffe Masters" who have passed rigorous educational programs and examinations on coffee.Starbucks Korea has some 4,600 baristas, about 900 of whom have reached ranks of the black apron.Some stores don’t have Coffee Masters while the entire staff at Seoul’s Dongbu Ichon and City Hall Plus stores wh

South Korean stocks traded 0.21 percent higher late Tuesday morning, led by gains in techs and autos, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added4.23 points to 1,981.90 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech blue chips drove up the shares, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 0.8 percent and top chipmaker adding 1.2 percent. Leading flat panel manufacturer LG Display gained 1.11 percent.Carmakers also gathered ground, with No. 1 industry player Hyundai Motor adding 2.09

South Korean stocks turned higher following a weak start on Tuesday but continued to trade range-bound amid ongoing concerns over the fiscal crisis in Cyprus, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.6 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,981.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue chips led the climb, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics adding 0.54 percent and the country's top automaker Hyundai Motor rising 0.46 percent.The local currency was trading at 1

The South Korean economy grew at the slowest clip in three years in 2012 as exports, facility investment and private spending remained weak amid the global economic slowdown, the central bank said Tuesday.The country's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic performance, grew 2 percent in 2012, unchanged from its earlier projection made in January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The 2012 growth marked the slowest increase in three years. But the 2011 growth was revised up

Samsung Electronics Co. has launched a suit against rival LG Electronics Inc. demanding 50 billion won (US$45 million) in compensation for denting its brand value, sources said Monday.In the lawsuit filed with the Seoul Southern District Court on Friday, the world's top maker of smartphones, memory chips and flat-panel TVs demanded its home-turf competitor to pay the cited amount in damages, according to the legal sources.The move marks the latest development in the ongoing advertising row betwe

The South Korean government unveiled Monday detailed plans of a rescheduling fund for heavy debtors, one of President Park Geun-hye’s key presidential campaign pledges. The Financial Services Commission, the country’s top financial regulator, said the public fund aimed to ease the debt burdens of the heavily-indebted persons will be launched on Friday with an initial size of 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion), to be run for the next five years.The government had initially proposed a fund worth 18

Franchise staggers as its business relies more on expansion than coffee sales

FSC to widen scope of cyber security inquiry to overall financial industry

Japan has been going through a series downturns and recessions further weighed down by declining asset prices and a strong currency since the 1990s. This inevitably led the once second-largest economy in the world to face nearly two decades of hardship.Despite being in the doldrums, Japan was able to weather the storm quite well thanks to its diverse and sustainable pool of conglomerates, and small and medium enterprises, according to a Bank of Korea report obtained by a local newswire.The repor

South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates saw their investment in real estate climb 6.6 percent in 2012 from the previous year, data showed Monday, apparently as they sought to make profits from leasing their property amid an economic slowdown. A total of 92 listed companies affiliated with the country’s family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebol in Korean, owned real estate worth 13.61 trillion won ($12.2 billion) for investment purposes at the end of last year, compared with 12.77 trillion won

Sales of small cars in South Korea sank in the first two months of the year due to weak demand stemming from the country’s protracted economic slump, industry data showed Monday.According to the data, a total of 28,711 small cars with engine capacities of 1.0 liter were sold in the country in the January-February period, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier.The overall domestic passenger car market, however, shrank at a lower rate of 2.8 percent during the cited period, the data showed, indicati