Asian countries' stern restriction on marriages with Korean men fuel decline, officials say

Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart and Homeplus were slapped with fines for illegally exploiting confidential business data of their subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission said Thursday. Lotte Department Store was ordered to pay 4.6 billion won ($4.3 million) in fines for forcibly requesting sales data from 60 small vendors that also have shops in its rival department stores.The department store demanded extra sales or promotions from small vendors whose stores performed worse than counterpar

South Korea’s household credit rose to a fresh record high in the third quarter, but its growth slowed from three months earlier on an expiry of tax benefits from home purchases, the central bank said Thursday.Household credit totaled 991.7 trillion won ($934.5 billion) as of end-September, up 12.1 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.Household credit refers to credit purchases and loans for households that have been extended by financial institutions, including

Financial arms of large enterprises will face tougher restrictions from next year in funding their parent firms against default, the financial regulator said Thursday, in a move to close the loophole through which conglomerates divert their affiliates’ assets to avert liquidity squeeze. Money-lending units affiliated with conglomerates will only be able to offer their largest shareholders loans of an amount equivalent to 100 percent of their equity capital, beginning in the first half of 2014, t

South Korean stocks closed 1.16 percent lower Thursday as investors' sentiment was dented by rising woes over an anticipated tapering of U.S. quantitative easing moves, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 23.46 points to finish at 1,993.78. Trading volume was low at 281.3 million shares worth 3.24 trillion won ($3.07 billion) with losers outnumbering gainers 576 to 230.Analysts said Seoul shares lost ground a

South Korean stocks traded 0.94 percent lower late Thursday morning amid the rising woes over a tapering of quantitative easing moves by the United States, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 18.88 points to 1,998.36 as of 11:20 a.m.Shares lost ground across the board, with Samsung Electronics falling 1.84 percent and Hyundai Motor losing 0.39 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO shed 0.15 percent.Builders also traded bearish, with Hyundai Engineering & Cons

Finance Ministry, BOK eye joint intervention to curb won’s rise

Korea Exchange Bank has kicked off emergency relief initiatives to help the Philippines recover from the devastation of typhoon Haiyan.“We share special ties with the Philippines in terms of economic cooperation and a variety of nongovernmental partnerships. We hope for swift recovery of the afflicted country,” the commercial bank said in a statement on Wednesday.The death toll from Haiyan has reached about 4,000, according to the national disaster relief agency. About 1,600 nationals are missin

South Korean stocks closed 0.71 percent lower Wednesday, as investors' sentiment was dented by weak economic growth outlooks from home and abroad, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 14.4 points to finish at 2,017.24. Trading volume was moderate at 329.3 million shares worth 4.36 trillion won (US$4.13 billion) with losers outnumbering gainers 416 to 385.Analysts said Seoul shares lost ground as investors' sen

South Korean stocks traded 0.54 percent lower late Wednesday morning due mainly to losses in technology firms and carmakers, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 11.02 points to 2,020.62 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech shares traded lower, with Samsung Electronics falling 0.81 percent and SK hynix losing 1.79 percent. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an industrial parts maker, shed 1.04 percent.Carmakers also traded bearish, with No. 1 player Hyundai Motor decreasing 1

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 7.66 points, or 0.38 percent to 2,023.98 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with tech giant Samsung Electronics falling 1.01 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor decreasing 0.77 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO shed 0.92 percent.U.S. stocks closed lower Tuesday as investors took a breather after the m

A South Korean unit of U.S.-based Citi Bank said Tuesday it has reduced nearly 10 percent of its branches here through November, due mainly to its falling profits in the local financial market.Citi Bank Korea said the number of branches in South Korea came to 196 as of this month, compared to 218 tallied at end-December last year.Citi Bank Korea’s net profit came to 27.9 billion won ($26.3 million) in the third quarter of fiscal 2013, down 53.3 percent from a year earlier.South Korea is the bank

But it cuts 2014 growth forecast to 3.8% from 4% on uncertain external factors