Overseas investors became net sellers of South Korean equities last year as they opted to buy safer assets amid global economic uncertainties, the financial watchdog said Sunday.Foreign investors offloaded a net 9.6 trillion won ($8.4 billion) worth of stocks in 2011, compared with a net purchase of 22.9 trillion won in the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.Overseas investors’ holdings of local stocks stood at 351.5 trillion won, or 30.4 percent of domestic stock owne

Several insurance firms, such as ING Life and Tongyang Life, will likely be auctioned off this year.Netherlands-based ING recently clarified its business policy to sell its insurance operations in the Asia-Pacific region, citing global economic uncertainties.Market observers state the possibility that the Korean life insurance unit may also be included in the group’s sale target.As ING Life holds the position of fifth or sixth in the local market, heated competition is expected if it is put up f

Nearly half of all South Korean financial firms are expecting weaker performances in 2012 primarily due to the global economic slowdown and rising household debt, a poll showed Sunday.The survey on 250 financial firms by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed 48.8 percent of the respondents saying they are bracing for lower results compared to 2011, with 26.8 percent forecasting conditions would remain unchanged from the year before. Regarding companies that held pessimistic views, 2.

South Korea’s exports grew nearly 20 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, primarily driven by robust sales of ships, vehicles and oil-related products, customs data showed Sunday.Exports came to a record high of $556.5 billion last year, up 19.3 percent from $466.4 billion a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service. It made South Korea the world’s seventh-largest exporter for a second year.Imports also grew 23.3 percent on-year to $524.4 billion, bringing the nation’s ann

Foreign investment banks have warned that domestic banks could see their loan delinquency rates rise this year due to the increased possibility of household defaults on their debts, data showed Sunday.Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and other major global IBs expect the uptrend in South Korean banks’ loan delinquency rate, which started during the second half of last year, to gain further ground this year, according to data by the Korea Center for International Finance.The overall delinquency rat

The Seoul government on Saturday said the impact from the credit downgrade of European countries will likely be limited, saying the country and its markets have long prepared for the worst."The credit downgrades have long been anticipated, and both the markets and the government have been preparing

PARIS (AP) _ Standard & Poor's swept the debt-ridden European continent with punishing credit downgrades Friday, stripping France of its coveted AAA status and dropping Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.In all, S&P, which took away the

Korean Air Lines Co. said Friday that it has been picked as one of the best foreign carriers in a poll of Chinese consumers by an international travel magazine.The monthly Wue Lu, the Chinese edition of New York-based Travel and Leisure magazine, included South Korea’s largest flag carrier among foreign airlines “welcomed” by Chinese travelers.The announcement was made at the China Travel Award event held in Shanghai, with the airlines being picked based on reviews by ordinary consumers, travel

Korea should not stay optimistic about inflation situations for this year, the nation‘s finance minister said Friday, urging all government agencies to do their best to stabilize prices. “Though the central bank and many private think tanks predict that things will improve this year from last year, we cannot remain optimistic given inflation conditions at home and abroad early this year,” Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told a price stabilization meeting. Korea’s consumer prices jumped 4 percent l

Korea’s annual import prices rose at the fastest clip in three years primarily due to spikes in international crude oil and commodity costs, the central bank said Friday. In local currency terms, the country‘s import prices grew 13.4 percent in 2011 from one year ago, accelerating from a 5.3 percent expansion tallied in 2010, according to the Bank of Korea. Last year’s growth was the highest reached since 2008, when import prices jumped 36.2 percent from the previous year as the Korean won depre

Korean stocks ended 0.6 percent higher Friday, as good debt sales in Italy and Spain whetted investor sentiment with more hope for a resolution to the eurozone crisis, analysts said. The local currency gathered ground against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark KOSPI gained 11.11 points to 1,875.68. Trading volume was moderate at 468.1 million shares worth 5.87 trillion won ($5.1 billion) with gainers outnumbering losers 432 to 384.“Spain sold twice as much debt than it wanted and that certainly came

South Korea's central bank on Friday left the key interest rate unchanged for the seventh straight month due to still-high consumer inflation even as the eurozone debt crisis is feared to dent economic growth.Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers held the benchmark 7-da

Damage to Korea’s farming industry from a free trade agreement with China may reach up to $2.8 billion, reports said Thursday, urging the Seoul government to be cautious in its FTA negotiations with China.During his trip to Beijing, President Lee Myung-bak agreed with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to declare the official start of negotiations for an FTA within the next month or two.A report from the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy said production by the country’s agriculture an