South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Monday led by a loss in Samsung Electronics, analyst said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 1.24 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,922.14 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The world's leading smartphone maker, which takes up about 17 percent of KOSPI's market cap, slid 0.7 percent, after the U.S. government overturned its trade panel's sales ban on older devices made by Apple Inc.The veto from the Obama administration on Satur

The Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee warned of increasing risks associated with one particular foreign asset manager holding a “big pot” of Korean fixed-income securities.They said that the central bank and financial regulators should keep an eye on such an “excessive bond ownership” by the foreign company to preemptively counter volatility following an expected tapering of U.S. quantitative easing, according to the minutes of its July policy meeting.An exit from U.S. monetary stimulus

South Korean stocks are expected to gather ground this week on the back of upbeat U.S. data and signs of an improving Chinese economy, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 1.1 percent at 1,923.38 on Friday from the previous week. The main index started off falling below the 1,900 mark on Monday on lack of fresh leads but gained momentum after the Bank of China said it will inject 17 billion yuan ($2.77 billion) worth to avoid a liquidity crunch.U.S. jobless cl

Global insurance giant ING Group has selected the South Korean private equity fund MBK Partners Ltd. as the preferred bidder for the sale of its South Korean unit, industry sources said Sunday.According to the sources, MBK offered to purchase a full stake in ING Life Korea for around 1.8 trillion won ($1.6 billion), changing its earlier suggestion at buying a 90-percent stake for 1.5-1.6 trillion won.Tongyang Life Insurance Co., South Korea’s fifth-largest insurer, was earlier selected as the ma

Woori Financial Group on Friday posted another earning shock in its second quarterly report this year, marked by disastrous contraction in net profit.Woori Financial earned 148 billion won ($130 million) in net profit in the second quarter, down about 30 percent from last year. Its second-quarter earnings fell 51.4 percent to 358.3 billion won. The damage comes more lucid when combined with the state-controlled financial group’s first quarterly report. In the first half, the company’s net profit

Student loans from high-interest lenders almost halved over the past year on the back of government efforts to encourage students to borrow from less expensive lenders, the state regulator said on FridayThe Financial Supervisory Service said, as of June, total student loans fell to 34.2 billion won ($30.3 million), down 47.5 percent, from a year ago. The FSS data showed that a college student on average borrows about 2.1 million won a year. But the delinquency rate slightly increased to 16.9 per

The number of unused credit cards in South Korea has reached 23.1 million as of last month, seldom showing signs of a drop as card firms are reluctant to clear them for marketing purposes, the financial regulator said Friday.The number of dormant credit cards has been falling at a slow clip since the beginning of this year, standing at 23.4 million at the end of April and 23.5 million in January, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service.That roughly means every working Korean h

Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea's top banking group, said Friday that its second-quarter earnings declined 51.4 percent from a year ago on a one-off factor and falling profit margin.Net profit amounted to 148.2 billion won (US$131.7 million) in the April-June period, compared with 305 billion won the previous year, the group said in a regulatory filing. From three months earlier, net income declined 29.5 percent.In the first half, the group's earnings fell 63 percent on-year to 358.3 bil

South Korean stocks closed 0.14 percent higher Friday on better-than-expected economic data from the United States, analysts said. The local currency ended lower against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 2.64 points to close at 1,923.38. Trading volume was low at 293.6 million shares worth 3.98 trillion won (US$3.54 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 460 to 321."The better-than-expected manufacturing data from the U.S. and China added to investor

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday due mainly to investor sentiment being boosted by better-than-expected economic data from the United States, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 15.09 points, or 0.79 percent, to 1,935.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with Samsung Electronics adding 1.02 percent and leading carmaker Hyundai Motor climbing 2.16 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO moved up 0.76 percent.The U.S.

A U.S. federal agency on Thursday postponed a final ruling on Apple's patent infringement complaint against Samsung until Aug. 9, apparently reflecting the sensitivity and complicity of the issue.The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) announced that it has decided to extend its deadline to determine whether some smartphones and tablet PCs made by Samsung Electronics Co. infringe on Apple Inc's patents.It gave no specific reason for the delay.In a preliminary ruling in October, the ITC fou

Deputy prime minister says Korea seeking to boost private investment in second half

Tax officials undertaxed taxpayers to the tune of 1.85 trillion won ($1.64 billion) over the past five years, according to a tax authority report.In the report submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday, the public was revealed to have been overtaxed by 353.8 billion won in the same period. Amid growing criticism, the NTS noted that it had punished or issued warnings to about 17,000 officials involved in tax miscalculation.Howev

South Korean stocks closed 0.35 percent higher Thursday as investors' sentiment was boosted by better-than-expected economic data from China and the United States, analysts said. The local currency ended flat against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 6.71 points to close at 1,920.74. Trading volume was moderate at 330.3 million shares worth 3.56 trillion won ($3.17 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 420 to 371.Analysts said Seoul shares gathered