Korean share prices rose 0.3 percent late Monday morning on gains in chemicals, oil refiners and finance firms.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was trading 0.31 percent higher at 1961.61 points as of 11:40 a.m. South Korean share prices are displayed on an electronic board at the Korea Exchange in Seoul. (Yonhap)Top market cap Samsung Electronics edged up 0.41 percent. LG Chem, the country’s leading chemicals firm, rose 0.34 percent and top oil refiner SK Innovation added 3.34 per

Korea's central bank will likely hold its policy rate steady for another month in March amid growing concerns over mounting household debts, a poll showed Monday.In a poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, 11 out of 19 economists surveyed projected the Bank of Korea (BOK) to keep its key rate frozen at 1.5 percent at its monthly rate-setting meeting scheduled for Thursday. Bank of Korea (Yonhap)The BOK has stood pat on its key rate since June after slashi

The nation’s stock exchange operator said Friday it has launched a probe into suspicions that shares of Doosan Group and its affiliates were unfairly traded on the day the conglomerate announced a leadership succession plan.Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-maan said he would hand over his top position to his nephew Park Jeong-won at around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday. But the share prices of the group and its affiliates started to surge earlier in the day -- even hours before the announcement was made

Banks and securities companies will face head-on when Korea introduces later this month individual savings accounts -- a new, tax-effective tool for saving and investing in an era of abysmal interest rates and volatile capital markets. According to the regulator Financial Services Commission on Friday, a total of 35 institutions – 14 banks and 21 brokerages – are preparing to launch ISA products. Thirty-three will start sale immediately upon the scheme’s official introduction on March 14.  (Yonh

Samsung Electronics has struck an agreement with U.S.-based bank Wells Fargo & Company to include it in its mobile payment platform, the South Korean electronics company said Friday. Under the partnership, Samsung Pay users can make purchases using their Wells Fargo accounts. The South Korean tech giant earlier clinched similar deals with Bank of America, Citibank and Chase Bank of the United States. The mobile platform supports a magnetic secure transmission technology that works on traditional

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves dwindled for the fourth straight month in February due partly to a cut in the value of non-U.S. dollar assets, the central bank said Friday.Foreign exchange reserves stood at $365.76 billion at the end of last month, down $1.54 billion from the previous month according to the Bank of Korea.  An employee count outs dollars at a local bank. (Yonhap)Foreign exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, along with Int

Dongbu Steel may avoid a forced exit from the stock market, as its main creditor pushes for a debt-equity swap that would help the company reduce debt and meet capital requirements for a listing maintenance. “Creditors are in talks for a debt-to-equity swap to help our firm avoid being delisted, but the amount or timing of it is not decided,” the steelmaker said Thursday in a filing in Seoul. The state-run Korea Development Bank, Dongbu’s largest creditor, is currently lining up support from oth

Korea’s savings banks slashed interest rates on time deposits to below 2 percent, approaching the levels offered by commercial banks, amid the central bank’s record-low key rate policy.  (123rf)The average interest rate on 90 fixed-term deposit products with a one-year maturity declined to 1.99 percent a year as of Tuesday, from the 2.67 percent recorded on Jan. 1 last year, according to data from the Korea Federation of Savings Banks on Thursday. The data showed that 2.32 percent was the highes

Loans extended to South Korea’s local firms grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of last year, mainly led by contractions in the manufacturing and construction sectors, central bank data showed Thursday.Corporate lending by banks and nonbank financial institutions came to 943.3 trillion won ($771 billion) at the end of 2015, up 11.2 trillion won, or 1.2 percent, from three months earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. Employees serve customers at a local bank. (Yon

Korea’s Internet banking transactions surged to a record high last year, central bank data showed Thursday.The daily amount of money transferred through Internet banking services also 40 trillion won ($32.79 billion) for the first time in history, the Bank of Korea said.  A consumer wires money from a mobile phone. (Yonhap)The number of daily transactions processed via the Internet reached an average 78.02 million in 2015, rising 17.4 percent from the previous year. The amount of money processed

Industrial output fell and current account surplus narrowed in JanuaryConcerns about Korea’s economic recession are growing as the nation’s industrial output fell for a third consecutive month in January amid faltering exports and a contraction in consumption and investments.The government attributed decreased demand for cars affected by the expiration of the excise tax reduction to the on-month decline in industrial production.But industrial experts said it may be impossible for the government

Prudential Life Insurance Korea on Wednesday unveiled a new annuity product targeting people preparing for retirement, digging deeper into a market that is poised to take off as the country’s population ages rapidly. “Life expectancy has greatly increased, but our retirement age hasn’t changed much. To the contrary, we see many cases where people are being forced out of their jobs at an even earlier age,” CEO Kurtis Jang said in a press conference. “It’s time to think seriously about retirement