South Korean stocks are expected to move upward in the coming week, as an upcoming central bank meeting and a summit in Europe drive investor expectations for more actions to tackle the eurozone crisis, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 7.86 percent,

South Korean stocks finished nearly unchanged on Friday as investors sat on the sidelines after the key index’s rally in the previous session, analysts said. The localcurrency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index edged down 0.01 percent, or 0.14 points, to 1,916.04. Trading volume was moderate at 382 million shares worth 5.73 trillion won ($5.08 billion) with gainers leading losers 434 to 389. “There was no market trigger,” said Kwak Joong-bo, an analyst a

South Korea’s central bank said Friday it had raised its holdings of gold in four months in November in an effort to diversify its portfolio of foreign exchange reserves worth more than $300 billion. South Korea purchased 15 tonnes of gold, raising the country’s gold holding to 54.4 tonnes at a value of $2.17 billion at the end of November, according to the Bank of Korea.The move marked the BOK’s second purchase of the precious metal so far this year. It bought 25 tonnes of gold bullion in June

Electricity rates will be raised by 4.5 percent on average starting Monday, with prices of high-voltage power for industrial use going up by 6.6 percent, to induce a reduction in power consumption, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Friday.High-voltage, industrial power consumers account for 51.5 percent of the nation’s electricity consumption, followed by households (14.6 percent).Electricity rates for housing and farming will remain unchanged, while the rates for four other categories ― in

Hana Financial Group said in a regulatory filing to the Korea Exchange on Friday that it has reached an agreement with Lone Star Funds on an 11 percent cut in takeover price for Korea Exchange Bank. The official announcement, issued right after Hana held a meeting of board members Friday afternoon, marks the beginning of the last phase of the long-protracted acquisition deal that spawned a series of heated public disputes, legal wrangling and rampant speculation about pricing.Under the new deal,

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- The country's electricity price will be raised by an average 4.5 percent from next week, though rates for households and the agricultural industry will remain intact, the government said Friday.Starting on Monday, prices of electricity used by industrial and educational sec

Apple Inc. won a one-week extension to a ban on Samsung Electronics Co. releasing its latest tablet computer in Australia. High Court Justice Dyson Heydon extended a ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Dec. 9, when the court will consider Apple’s request for permission to appeal a lower cou

Hana Financial Group has reached an agreement with Lone Star Funds on lowering the takeover price for Korea Exchange Bank, Dow Jones Newswires reported Thursday.An anonymous source was quoted by the U.S.-based news provider as saying that “Hana Financial agreed to a deal with Lone Star Funds to buy a 51.02 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank for 3.916 trillion won ($3.48 billion), 11 percent lower than the original sales price of 4.41 trillion won.”A Hana spokesman declined to confirm the repor

Professional social networking service LinkedIn Corp. said Thursday it has started a Korean language service to lure the country's Internet users. LinkedIn's entry into South Korea comes as overseas social networking services such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have gained ground here following a

Korea Forest Service maps out plans to establish AFoCO after landmark agreement signed with ASEAN in BaliSouth Korea took an important step in nurturing global green growth by agreeing last month with ASEAN member states to form the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization, the Korea Forest Service said on Thursday.The agreement, signed at the ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, is expected to pave the way for international cooperative networks in the field of forest preservation. ASEAN leaders welcom