Dongbu Steel is thought to be heading toward a delisting from Korea’s main stock exchange, as the debt-saddled steelmaker’s prospects of escaping from a prolonged state of capital erosion grow increasingly dim. Shares in Dongbu plunged by the daily limit of 30 percent to 2,500 won on the main KOSPI bourse Monday on news that the ongoing efforts by creditors to sell control of the firm is likely to fail due to apparent lack of bidders.  Dongbu Group headquarters in southern Seoul (Yonhap)The sale

This is the second in a series of articles analyzing the top 10 companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market. --Ed. From online to mobile and back to off-line, Kakao’s empire of content, apps and services seems to know no limit. With a mobile messenger app almost ubiquitous among smartphone users and the country’s second-largest Web portal, the company is expanding at a breakneck pace through mergers and acquisitions and experimenting with new revenue models from its

The government will actively cope with market uncertainties and beef up active monitoring of the financial market over growing worries about the global economy, the top financial regulator said Monday. Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong said the government will implement contingency plans if investor sentiment excessively worsens and market conditions deteriorate.“The government has already prepared a range of policy options such as emergency measures that aim to stabilize inve

South Korea's M2 money supply shrank slightly from a month earlier in December, marking the first on-month drop in over a year, central bank data showed Monday.The M2 came to 2,241.8 trillion won ($1.85 trillion won) last month, down 0.1 percent from revised 2,244.3 trillion won the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The December tally marked a 7.5 percent increase from a year earlier.The M2 refers to currency in circulation, including bank debentures and deposi

Growth of South Korean banks' household lending slowed sharply in January from a month earlier as a recent U.S. rate hike weakened consumer spending here, central bank data showed Monday.Outstanding household loans from local banks came to 641.3 trillion won ($530 billion) as of end-January, up 2.2 percent from the previous month, according to data from the Bank of Korea.The on-month increase compares with a 6.9 percent gain in December.The rise was solely attributed to an increase in home-backe

KB Financial Group and Korea Investment Holdings are likely to face off again in the auction of a controlling stake in Hyundai Securities, one of the five largest brokerage houses in Korea. In separate filings Friday, the two revealed to have tendered letters of intent to buy a combined 22.56 percent stake in Hyundai Securities, valued at around 300 billion won ($250 million). “We intend to explore the possibility of a purchase to see if Hyundai Securities fits our strategic focus on wealth mana

South Korea's home sales plunged 21.4 percent last month from a year earlier due mainly to a base effect stemming from rapid growth posted last year, government data showed Sunday.The number of home transactions reached 62,365 in January compared with a record 79,320 tallied a year ago, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. (Yonhap)The January figure also marked a 29 percent drop from the previous month's 87.871."The on-year decline is caused by the re

Local banking and financial firms are expected to greatly boost their dividend payments for 2015, helped by a rise in their earnings and a government policy to give more back to shareholders, market watchers said Sunday.According to the observers, the country's two largest banking groups by assets -- KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group -- have decided to pay out record amounts in dividends, with many other banking and insurance firms also expected to boost their payout ratio.KB Financ

The daily volatility of the won-dollar exchange rate has hit a near six-year high in February amid global financial instability, market data showed Sunday.According to the data, the average gap between the daily high and low of the won-dollar exchange rate came to 10.4 won in February, the highest since 12.8 won posted in the second quarter of 2010. (Yonhap)The average difference marks a 0.87 percent intraday fluctuation rate, which compares with 0.58 percent for all of 2015.The average daily va

The amount of money funneled to South Korean banks in deposits and bank debentures soared in 2015 from a year earlier, central bank data showed Sunday, apparently due to a rise in floating money prompted by low interest rates and uncertainties in the investment market.The total amount of funds held by local banks came to 1,391 trillion won ($1.15 trillion) at the end of 2015, up 106.7 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The 2015 tally marked th

South Korean stocks took another drubbing from a plunge in Japan and other major equity markets Friday as panicked investors dumped shares. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 26.26 points, or 1.41 percent, to end at 1,835.28. This followed a nearly 3 percent plunge the previous day. (Yonhap)Trading volume was moderate at 465.67 million shares worth 6.2 trillion won ($5.1 billion), with decliners outpacing gainers 739 to 11

One hundred-twenty four South Korean companies that have been producing garments, shoes and watches in North Korea’s border city have become casualties of the unfinished Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, as renewed tensions between the two sides led to a sudden shutdown of a factory complex. North Korea on Thursday said that it was freezing all South Korean assets in Gaeseong Industrial Park and that its military was taking over control of the factory complex which it has been running jointly wi

The South Korean stock market nosedived on the first trading session after the Lunar New Year holiday Thursday, battered by concerns over the gloomy global economy and geopolitical risks stemmed from North Korea’s long-range rocket launch. An electronic board behind the statues of a bear and bull, the symbols of the fall and rise of stocks, installed inside Korea Exchange in Seoul, shows a plunge in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes Thursday, as they were affected by a sharp fall in global stock mark