Investors have growingly shifted their money to short-term financial instruments, such as money market funds, in 2015 as interest rates have hit rock bottom, data showed Tuesday.   Money market funds are short-term debt securities, such as Treasury bills and commercial papers. They are widely considered as safe as bank deposits yet provides a higher return.  The net asset value of MMFs came to 38.23 trillion won ($33.1 billion) as of Thursday, surging 46.4 percent from the end of last year, acco

The trading volume of the derivatives market soared in the first half from a year ago, recovering from years of decline on the back of a bullish stock market, the bourse operator said Tuesday.   The derivatives market had 338 trillion contracts in total in the January-June period, up 22 percent from a year ago, the Korea Exchange said.   Among them, KOSPI 200 options that track the nation's 200 largest shares on the main bourse posted a 9.1 percent on-year hike to 1.98 million contracts per day,

South Korea announced a fresh plan Tuesday to sell state-run Woori Bank following four previous failures to put the country's third-largest lender into private hands, a state committee said.  The government has been trying to sell its 51.04 percent stake in the bank since 2010 in a bid to recover public funds of some 13 trillion won ($11.3 billion) injected to bail it out following the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.     The latest sale plan is its fifth bid as four previous auctions f

South Korea opened a mini-sized futures and options market on Monday to offer investors wider choices for hedging and trading, hoping to revitalize the once-vibrant derivatives market with robust liquidity.   The Korea Exchange currently operates futures and options trading based on the KOSPI 200 index, a flagship index composed of the top 200 stocks by market capitalization.   The new system offers contracts for as little as 25 million won ($21,900) and 5 million won for KOSPI 200 futures and K

South Korea's top financial regulator will set up a crowdfunding platform to help startups and small venture businesses raise funds and capitalize on their ideas and technologies more easily, its chief said Monday.  Crowdfunding is a type of fundraising that a firm uses to raise capital from a large number of individuals who invest small amounts of money, typically via the Internet. South Korea legalized the online crowdfunding business last week, under which venture startups can raise a maximum

Nearly half of South Korea's large industrial groups are suffering from chronic financial trouble due to high levels of debt, industry data showed Sunday.  Out of 48 non-financial business groups on an antitrust watchlist, 23 posted a debt ratio of more than 200 percent on a consolidated basis as of end-2014, according to the data. Twenty one of them saw the ratio hit 200 percent for three straight years.  The debt ratios of nine conglomerates, including Dongbu Group, Hanjin Group and Daewoo Shi

South Korea's major banks reduced loans to large companies over the past year as they became more reluctant to lend to them amid a series of massive bankruptcies, industry data showed Sunday.  Six lenders, including industry leaders Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank, extended a combined 95.7 trillion won ($83.5 billion) in loans to large business at the end of June, down 8.5 percent from 104.7 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data.  In South Korea, large companies are widely recognized

The issuance of asset-backed securities in South Korea nearly tripled in the first half of this year from a year ago due to a sharp rise in sales of government-led mortgage funds, the financial watchdog said Sunday.  A combined 48.2 trillion won ($42 billion) worth of ABS were issued in the January-June period, compared with 17.4 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.  ABS is derived from underlying assets such as car loans, home equity loans, credit card re

South Korea's top financial regulator is planning to give preliminary approval for the merger of two flagship banks of Hana Financial Group Inc., the country's third-largest banking group by assets, later this week, officials said Sunday.  Hana Financial has tried to merge Hana Bank and the Korea Exchange Bank since it acquired the KEB from U.S. buyout fund Lone Star in 2012. Its efforts have dragged on for years as the KEB had strongly opposed the merger until recently, citing its earlier promi

South Korean stocks are likely to trade in a narrow range next week as the second-quarter earnings season kicked off on a downbeat note, analysts said Saturday.    The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,076.79 on Friday, spiking 2.24 percent from a week earlier.  The index climbed as the Greek debt deal and the rebounding Chinese market lifted investor sentiment, which was corroborated by a landmark deal on Iran's nuclear program on Wednesday.   With uncertainties in the glo

Hyundai Heavy Industries and the Ulsan Metropolitan Government on Wednesday launched a Creative Economy Innovation Center to support the country’s marine, shipbuilding and medical services industries. “Through the cooperation of the world’s leading shipbuilder HHI and local scholars, researchers and businessmen, I am very confident that the center will lead Ulsan and Korea’s manufacturing industry. The government will also put all our efforts in opening that road,” said President Park Geun-hye a

South Korea's top economic policymaker asked lawmakers to approve an extra budget plan in its original form to make funds available to reduce the fallout from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak and revive the country's growth momentum.Last week, the government submitted the 11.8 trillion-won($10.3 billion) supplementary budget to the National Assembly for approval as part of efforts to revitalize the economy struggling with slumping exports and anemic domestic demand.Speaking at the N

South Korea posted a trade surplus for the 41st month in a row in June as imports dropped at a much faster pace than exports, customs data showed Wednesday.According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, the country's trade surplus reached US$9.97 billion last month, up significantly from $6.26 billion in May and higher than $5.35 billion a year earlier.Exports contracted 2.4 percent on-year to $46.67 billion in June, while imports nosedived 13.6 percent to $36.69 billion. In June 2014, expo

South Korea's jobless rate edged up in June as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak caused a sharp slowdown in growth of new hirings by the service sector, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 3.9 percent last month, up from 3.8 percent in May. The number also rose 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for June was 3.9 percent, unchanged from the previous month. The national em

South Korea is expected to suffer a 5.8 percent drop in its exports to Europe from the economic impact of Greece's possible exit from the eurozone, or the "Grexit," a trade agency said Sunday, although the consequences will not be as serious as the eurozone crisis in 2010."If the Grexit happens, the eurozone's economy growth will fall 1 percentage point and the South Korean won will add 13.6 percent against the euro. This will lead to a 5.8 percent drop in exports," said Korea International Trad