South Korean stocks finished 0.66 percent lower Tuesday as rising concerns over a weak corporate earnings outlook dented investor sentiment, analysts said. The local currency gathered ground against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 13.30 points to 1,997.94. Trading volume was moderate at 489.3 million shares worth 3.91 trillion won ($3.67 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 427 to 369.“Although Samsung Electronics boasted all-time high quarterly e

President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team is poised to rule out tax hikes in the coming administration’s policy to secure funds for social welfare, committee members said Tuesday.Under Park’s full-fledged welfare project, which will cost the nation more than 90 trillion won ($83.3 billion) over five years, some economists had expected that the high-income bracket and major business groups would ultimately be the main target of tax authorities.But in contrast to market prediction, a member

President-elect Park seeks to reduce household debt obligations for mid-income group

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said that local export firms should target the middle class in emerging countries in order to tide over the protracted global economic slump.The state-run agency held its yearly presentation on local companies’ overseas market expansion strategy at InterContinental Seoul COEX on Tuesday.The three-day event kicked off with opening speeches by KOTRA CEO Oh Young-ho and Knowledge Economy Minister Hong Suk-woo, as well as reports from directors of nine reg

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is reportedly pushing for a revised income taxation law that allows the government to collect taxes from religious groups.It plans to reintroduce the ordinance this month that has been controversial since 2006 when the National Tax Service suggested the religious tax to the Finance Ministry.Clergy and monks had been granted tax exemptions, and the ministry had been seriously contemplating whether to introduce the tax system faced with opposition and resistanc

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest technology firm by revenue, estimated Tuesday it had posted a record operating profit of 8.8 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, and is poised to log record annual earnings on the back of its smartphone dominance.The preliminary estimate represents an 88.8 percent jump from a revised operating profit of 4.66 trillion won a year earlier, Samsung said in a regulatory filing. It is also a 9.2 percent increase from the previous thre

IMF says GDP of developing countries set to exceed that of developed countries

Global investment banks estimate the South Korean economy will expand 3 percent this year, mainly fueled by a rebound in Chinese demand, a report showed Monday. The growth projection compiled by 10 foreign IBs for Asia’s fourth-largest economy came in at an average of 3 percent, according to the Korea Center for International Finance. Nomura and Deutsche Bank gave the lowest 2.5 percent growth estimate for Korea in 2013, while Morgan Stanley bet a 3.7 percent expansion, the highest among the tal

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s finance minister will leave for Myanmar and Vietnam this week to hold bilateral meetings to discuss economic and financial cooperation, his office said Monday.Bahk Jae-wan is to embark upon his Asia tour Wednesday as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral economic and financial cooperation with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to the Finance Ministry.His first leg of the trip is to Myanmar where he is scheduled to have ministe