South Korean stocks closed higher Monday, buoyed by better than expected growth numbers from China for the fourth quarter, analysts said. The Korean won closed lower against the greenback.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 9.30 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,953.78. Trading volume was low at 273.9 million shares worth 2.83 trillion won ($2.66 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 451 to 357.Analysts said Seoul shares moved up modestly after Beijing announced GDP growth hitti

Foreign investors are expanding their presence on the country’s secondary Kosdaq market with their ownership reaching over a five-year high, data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange, foreigners held 12.59 trillion won ($11.8 billion) worth of stocks traded on the tech-laden Kosdaq market as of Friday, accounting for 10.16 percent of the total market capitalization, the highest since August 2007.The latest figure compares with 8.27 percent a year ago and also marks

Asset managers’ presence in the local stock market is decreasing, with the portion of stocks in their fund portfolios to the total market capitalization hitting the lowest in eight years, data showed on Monday.According to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association, stocks under asset managers’ investment fund portfolio accounted for 5.89 percent of the total market cap at the end of last year, the lowest since 2005 when the comparable figure was 5.67 percent.After reaching

Top officials, celebrities, CEOs among victims of recent leak at card firms

The South Korean stock market is expected to move sideways next week due to investors' jitters over the fourth-quarter corporate earnings, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 0.9 percent from the previous week to close at 1,944.48 Friday.Earlier this week, Seoul shares gathered ground as the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data curbed concerns that its central bank may speed up the tapering of its quantitative easing.The U.S. added 74,000 jobs in

The Export-Import Bank of Korea has become the first Korean company to sell a non Taiwan dollar- denominated note in Taiwan as the so-called Formosa bond market gathers pace.Kexim, as the state-owned bank is known, sold 500 million yuan ($82.6 million) of 10-year notes listed in Taiwan, or Formosa bonds, to yield 4.5 percent and 500 million yuan of five-year Dim Sum securities to yield 3.625 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter. Chinatrust Commercial Bank, a unit of Taiwan’s f

Hanwha Group, a South Korean chemical conglomerate, said Friday that it will not join the race to buy LIG Insurance Co., the country's fifth-largest non-life insurer."It is not true that Hanwha Group is seeking a takeover of LIG Insuarance," it said in a regulatory filing.LIG Group, a mid-sized local business group, put up a 20.9 percent stake in its non-life insurance unit, LIG Insurance, to secure cash to compensate investors for losses incurred from its 2011 financial fraud scandal.The sale o

Emerging countries should wisely cope with spillover effects from the Federal Reserve's tapering of its quantitative easing steps, South Korea's central banker said Friday.Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo said in a meeting with heads of local banks that it was a good decision for the U.S. central bank to start reducing its monetary stimulus, adding that there is confidence about the recovery of the U.S. economy."But emerging countries are vulnerable to changes in the global financial market

South Korean stocks closed higher Thursday following improved economic assessments by the World Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve, analysts said. The Korean won closed lower against the greenback.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 4.04 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,957.32. Trading volume was moderate at 373.2 million shares worth 3.37 trillion won ($3.17 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 447 to 338.Analysts said Seoul shares gathered ground as investors’ sentiment got a