South Korean stocks started lower on Thursday, tracking overnight losses in the U.S. stock market, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 0.98 points, or 0.05 percent, to 1,963.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Financials led the loss with KB Financial and Shinhan Financial falling 2.89 percent and 2.98 percent, respectively.Samsung Electronics, the country's top market cap, also lost 0.14 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,087.25 won against t

Japanese auto giant Toyota said Wednesday it would recall more than 900,000 vehicles in Canada, Japan, Mexico and the United States because of an airbag problem.Toyota will replace parts used in some 907,000 hatchbacks, named Voltz in Japan and Corolla and Corolla Matrix overseas, and produced between 2001 and 2004, a company spokesman said.(AFP)

Annual smartphone sales back in black for first time in three years

Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction, in a move to advance in the lucrative power plant business, shaped up its plan to take over an overseas company possessing original technology in nuclear power generation.The engineering, procuring and construction company recently made its preliminary bid on Ansaldo Energia, an energy generating subsidiary of Finmeccanica, Italy’s state-run defense company.Ansaldo, especially its nuclear power production arm Ansaldo Nucleare, possesses refined technolog

The foreign business community in Korea is expected to be offered a rare opportunity to directly converse with the incoming Park Geun-hye government. On March 20, The Korea Herald and The Herald Business will jointly host a dialogue between global companies here and the five top government officials of the Park government in the fields of economy, welfare, labor, finance and defense. The event will be held for over 500 businesspeople in the foreign corporate community here, at Millennium Hilton

Income disparity among Koreans aged 65 and older is widening as the population rapidly ages with fewer job opportunities for the elderly.Income inequality in Korea among those 65 and older reached an all-time high of 0.419 on the Gini index in 2011, according to the country’s statistics bureau and the Korea Labor Institute.The number broke the 0.5 mark after measuring incomes after subtracting public assistance funds and basic insurance benefits for senior citizens.A coefficient approaching 1 si

The ratio of female executives at South Korea’s top conglomerates reached 1.5 percent, data showed Wednesday, raising concerns over the severe gender imbalance in the local firms’ C-suite.Women accounted for 77 of the total 5,201 executives at 94 affiliates of the country’s 10 major business groups as of Friday, according to the data compiled by research firm CEO Score.Samsung Group, South Korea’s top conglomerate, employed 39 high-ranking female officials, accounting for more than half of the t

Hana Bank, South Korea’s No. 4 bank, said Wednesday that it has raised $500 million by selling global bonds in order to repay maturing foreign currency debt. The lender said the three-year bonds carry an interest rate of 1.375 percent, which translates into a rate of 1.05 percentage points higher than the yield on three-year U.S. Treasuries.The debt sale was co-arranged by five foreign investment banks, including Barclays and BoA-Merrill Lynch, the bank added. (Yonhap News)

South Korea-based tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. will likely see its share of the world smartphone market far outpace that of iPhone maker Apple Inc. this year with new Galaxy devices set to hit the market, data showed Wednesday.Samsung is expected to ship 320.4 million units of smartphones worldwide in 2013, compared with an estimated 159 million units of the iPhone shipped by Apple, according to the data by market researcher Strategy Analytics.LG Electronics Inc. of South Korea comes ne

LG Electronics will roll out a new flagship smartphone dubbed “Optimus G Pro” in Korea by March, according to its chief financial officer Jeong Do-hyun on Wednesday.Following its quarterly earnings conference at its headquarters in Yeouido, Jeong said that the new 5.5-inch flagship smartphone will be released in the local market by the first quarter and then to the overseas market in the second quarter.Another LG executive also stated during the earnings conference that the new G series smartpho

South Korean stocks closed 0.43 percent higher Wednesday as local exporters continued to rebound from their recent losses on the improved foreign exchange market conditions, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 8.47 points to 1,964.43. Trading volume was high at 515.9 million shares worth 4.2 trillion won (US$3.87 billion) with gainers outnumbering decliners 425 to 367."The local stock market recouped some