South Korean companies listed on the main stock market saw their combined net profit fall nearly 7 percent on-year in 2014 due mainly to a plunge in earnings by top-cap Samsung Electronics Co., data showed Wednesday.The combined net profit of 496 companies traded on the main KOSPI market dipped 6.9 percent on-year to 61.1 trillion won ($55.4 billion), while operating profit sank 12.7 percent to 91.4 trillion won, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.Their combined sales came at 1,821 tril

The South Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar Wednesday on the back of the country's record-high trade surplus in March and the greenback's weakness against its major peers.The local currency closed at 1,102.4 won per dollar, up 7.1 won from the previous session's close, snapping a two-day loss. The won hit an intra-day high of 1,101.60 won at one point.South Korea's trade surplus reached a new monthly high in March despite a fall in exports as imports shrank at a faster rate, government dat

The amount of loans supplied by the Bank of Korea soared to the highest level in 21 years at the end of February as the central bank issued more money to support companies, data showed Wednesday.Loans provided via money issuance totaled 15.4 trillion won($13.9 billion) as of the end of February, up 66.5 percent from the previous year, according to BOK data.The figure marks the biggest amount since July 1994, when it reached 15.6 trillion won when not calculating the change in currency value. It

Investors are taking on record levels of debt to buy stocks as the South Korean equity market continues its bullish run on persistent foreign buying and market-friendly conditions, data showed Wednesday.The so-called margin debt, or the amount borrowed to purchase securities, stood at 6.47 trillion won ($5.83 billion) as of Monday, the highest since August 2011, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association.The margin debt level had hovered above the 5 trillion-won

South Korea’s household mortgage debt more than tripled in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period a year ago, according to data by the banking sector and the Financial Supervisory Service.Mortgage debt hit 323.5 trillion won at the end of March, up more than 7 trillion won from 316.5 trillion won at the end of last year, according to data from seven local commercial lenders.This marks the first time the increase has reached over 7 trillion won, further raising concerns ove

South Korea plans to sell state bonds worth 7.45 trillion won ($6.72 billion) in April, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday.According to the ministry, the government will sell 1.9 trillion won in three-year Treasury notes, 1.85 trillion won in five-year debts and 2 trillion won worth of 10-year bonds next month. It also plans to issue 800 billion won worth of 20-year bonds and 900 billion won in 30-year bonds.The ministry said it sold a little under 9.62 trillion won worth of bonds

Two members of the central bank's monetary policy committee opposed a majority decision earlier this month to lower the policy rate to a record low of 1.75 percent, Bank of Korea minutes showed Tuesday.Moon Woosik and Chung Hae-bang, members of the seven-member policy board led by BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, voted to keep the key rate unchanged at 2 percent, according to the minutes from the March 12 meeting. The BOK unexpectedly slashed the base rate by a quarter percentage point, joining in a global

The top financial regulator said Tuesday that it has approved the establishment of an independent financial security agency aimed at enhancing information management and protection capabilities in the financial sector. The Financial Security Institute will be launched on April 10, said the Financial Services Commission.The FSI serves a comprehensive role in managing the entire flow of financial information provided by 180 banks, insurers, brokerage houses and credit card firms.It will break down

A majority of South Korean exporters predict their second-quarter business conditions to improve slightly from three months earlier, despite lingering external market uncertainties, a poll showed Tuesday.According to the poll conducted of 702 exporters by the Korea International Trade Association, the Export Business Survey Index came to 112 for the April-June period, up from 107.1 in the previous quarter. A reading above 100 means that optimists outnumber pessimists among the export companies.T

South Korea's central bank increased the portion of U.S. dollar-denominated assets in its foreign exchange reserves by nearly 4 percentage points last year from a year prior on expectations of a strengthening greenback, a report showed Tuesday. Dollar holdings accounted for 62.5 percent of the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s foreign assets last year, up from 58.3 percent in the previous year, according to the central bank's annual policy report."(The 2014 reading) results from an expansion in the portion

Unmarried women spend more as they age, while unmarried men’s spending shrinks with age, finance industry data showed Tuesday. According to data compiled by Shinhan Card Co., single women’s monthly expenditure rose from 592,000 won ($534) in their 20s to 713,000 won in their 30s and peaked at 938,000 won in their 40s.While the figure drops when single women hit their 50s, at 786,000 won the figure was significantly higher than that of single men in the same age group. In contrast, single men’s s

Shares of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO and several other firms have been hit hard by a series of ongoing prosecution probes into alleged corruption that has raised concerns over their outlooks.The investigations began over two weeks ago after Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo declared an "all-out war" on corruption in an apparent attempt to prop up weak public support for President Park Geun-hye.Share prices of POSCO, the nation's top steelmaker, hit fresh lows in recent weeks as a probe into a s