Korean stocks started lower on Friday, taking a cue from overnight losses in Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 11.16 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,962.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market heavyweights traded mixed, with top player Samsung Electronics falling 0.87 percent.Hyundai Motor, the nation's leading automaker, dropped 0.68 percent. State-run Korea Electric Power Corp. suffered 0.85 percent fall, and top steelmaker POSCO was down 1.72 percent.

Korean shares closed slightly higher Thursday as the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) March minutes met expectations, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 2.57 points, or 0.13 percent, to finish at 1,973.89. Trading volume was high at 424 million shares worth 4.57 trillion won ($3.97 billion), with gainers beating losers 427 to 369.Analysts said Seoul shares closed higher as the FOMC minute met

Korea’s antitrust watchdog has launched an investigation into foreign banks on speculation over collusions on foreign exchange swap bids, sources said Thursday. The Fair Trade Commission raided offices of a dozen foreign lenders, including Standard Chartered Cheil Bank Korea and Citibank Korea, and asked them to submit documentation related to bidding processes for foreign currency swap transactions in order to look into whether unfair business practices were involved.Fair Trade Commission in Se

From hotels, movies, games and financial services to energy, manufacturing and information technology, there is not one sector across industries or markets that China is not involved in.China’s growth may be losing momentum a bit, but that does not mean Chinese companies do not have the capital to remain acquisitive for businesses that can help them generate more value. And finance is one of many services where they want to get their hands on and boost global competitiveness through acquisitions

Korea’s water purifier maker and distributer Coway is likely to post satisfactory first-quarter earnings but its major stakeholder’s exit move will be a burden on its stock price, an analyst said Thursday.Local private equity MBK Partners, which owns 30.9 percent stake in Coway, put the company up for sale in August last year and selected Goldman Sachs to broker the deal.CJ Group in December last year did not submit a final offer for MBK’s Coway stake after taking part in preliminary bidding in

Foreign stock investment funds from international tax havens have exceeded 2.7 trillion won ($2.34 billion), accounting for more than 6 percent of foreign ownership of Korean shares, data showed Thursday.According to the data compiled by market researcher Chaebol.com, foreign residents in tax havens held Korean stocks worth slightly over 2.7 trillion won as of Tuesday. The amount is more than 6 percent of total foreign stock ownership valued at 44.6 trillion won.  The National Tax Service (Yonha

Korean shares opened slightly higher Thursday on an apparent "earnings surprise" from Samsung Electronics while investors continued to bet the U.S. Fed will not hurry to raise its key rate.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.58 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,971.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market leader Samsung Electronics gained 0.54 percent after releasing its formal estimate of first-quarter operating profits.Samsung announced that it racked up 6.6 trillion

Korea Development Bank said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Korea Energy Agency to cooperate in alternative energy, energy efficiency and climate change mitigation. “We hope the pact will help both sides deepen their interest in renewable energy. KDB, for its part, will up efforts to provide financial support to companies operating in the field,” said KDB’s senior executive vice president Ryu Hee-gyeong in a press release. Korea Development Bank‘s senior executive vice president R

E-Land plans to list its Chinese unit in Hong Kong by 2018 at the earliest in a bid to improve the group’s balance sheet health and expand its Chinese retail business, the company said Wednesday. E-Land Group will hold a pre-initial public offering raising during the second of 2016 after merging its two Chinese units E-Land International Fashion Shanghai and E-Land Fashion Shanghai It is the first time that a Korean apparel firm is going public overseas. E-Land Group plans to choose a lead manag

Korea’s Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong said Wednesday that the time is ripe for the country to have a brokerage with competitive investment banking operations.In a regular media briefing, the chairman added that he supports the recent mergers and acquisitions of brokerages, pointing to NH Investment & Securities taking over Woori Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Securities acquiring KDB Daewoo and KB Financial Group selected as a preferred bidder for Hyundai Securities.

Hotel Lotte, the lodgings and duty-free sales unit of Lotte Group, could postpone its market debut until June to increase its valuation before going public, market watchers said Wednesday. Hotel Lotte initially planned to go public in May, but could delay its schedule by one month to cash in on the government’s decision to issue additional licenses for duty-free operators. Hotel Lotte (Yonhap)At the end of April, the Korea Customs Service is set to make an announcement as to whether it would iss

Shinhan Financial Group was by far the top earner among the country’s seven bank holding companies last year, while NH Financial Group was the only one in the red. According to data compiled and released Wednesday by the Financial Supervisory Service, Shinhan’s net profits came in at 2.41 trillion won ($2.08 billion) in 2015, far exceeding the figure of runner-up KB Financial Group. KB logged net income of 1.7 trillion won, followed by Hana Financial Group at 897 billion won. Shinhan also led th

KT&G, the KOSPI-listed tobacco maker, is expected to “surprise” the market by posting solid earnings in the first quarter of this year, analysts say.Although the country’s representative sin stock is likely to see its consolidated operating profits fall 27.5 percent to 310.6 billion won ($268.8 million) on-year, the company will perform above the market consensus of 271.5 billion won.“Low base effect and high exchange rate (a weak won) spurred its profitability,” said Hong Se-jong, an analyst at

China's Anbang Insurance Group agreed with Allianz Group on Wednesday to acquire the local unit of the German insurance giant, industry sources said, in what would be Anbang's second takeover of a life insurer here in about a year.The agreement calls for Anbang to purchase a 100 percent stake in Allianz Life Insurance Korea Co. from Allianz, according to the sources. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Anbang is estimated to have offered up to 300 billion won ($260 million) for the in

Korea's corporate debt ratio edged down in 2015 from the previous year due mainly to decreased capital expenditures amid an economic slump, data showed Wednesday.Local companies' debt-to-equity ratio averaged 111.1 percent last year, compared with 112.7 percent a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI) and based on reports by local financial information provider FnGuide, the U.S. statistical agency and Japan's finance ministry.The ratio, or total