South Korean shares opened higher Tuesday on institutional buying despite persistent worries over inflation and aggressive monetary tightening in major economies. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 16.51 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,613.09 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks ended mixed over the latest disappointing economic data from the US and China. Adding to investor anxiety is the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening to tackle inflation and the war in

Apartment buildings in Seoul (Yonhap)Almost 4 in 10 South Korean listed companies trimmed their workforce in 2021 from a year earlier amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, a private think tank said Tuesday. The Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) said a survey of 1,874 firms listed on the country's main and minor bourses showed 43.1 percent slashing the number of their employees last year from 2020. Of the 696 businesses traded on the main KOSPI market, 294, or 42.2 percent, cut job

The combined first-quarter sales of major firms in South Korea surpassed the 700 trillion-won ($545 billion) mark for the first time on strong performances by chips, electronics, petrochemicals and auto manufacturers, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. The total top line of 344 out of South Korea's top 500 companies by sales came to 791.5 trillion won in the January-March period, up 19.6 percent from a year earlier, according to CEO Score. The 344 corporations cover those that have disclosed

The wealth gap between the richest Koreans in their 20s and 30s and their poorest peers increased more in 2021 than the previous year, a lawmaker said, citing data compiled by Statistics Korea. In 2021, the top 20 percent of wealthy Koreans in their 20s and 30s held 981.85 million won ($764,442) on average, 35.27 times that of the 27.84 million won held by the bottom 20 percent in the same demographic. That was an incremental increase from the 35.2 times in 2020, according to Rep. Kim Hoi-jae

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is considering easing the burden of gift tax by raising the upper limit of tax-free capital transfers from the current 50 million won ($38,900), documents from relevant ministries showed Monday. Currently, the authority does not levy gift taxes as long as parents or grandparents conduct capital transfer to their children or grandchildren within the limit of 50 million won per child. If the transfer exceeds 50 million won, the parents and grandparents

Financial authorities closely monitoring the issue, but lacking legal grounds to take action

South Korea‘s Hana Financial Group announced Monday its support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and said that it has joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, as part of its efforts to bolster ESG value in its management. The WEPs is a joint initiative by UN Women and UN Global Compact to promote women’s empowerment in the workplace and community. Hana said it will expand gender equality in its workplace by providing additional promotion and education opportunities f

South Korea has yet to arrive at a stage where the option of a “big step” or half a percentage point rate hike can be completely ruled out, with the possibility of higher inflationary pressure looming over the economy, the nation’s central bank chief said Monday. Following his breakfast meeting with Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong told reporters the uncertainties surrounding Korea’s inflation is keeping the central bank from taking the

Chief of US ETF issuer believes growing K-pop movement in the US will attract investors, expresses hope to expand partnership with Korean businesses

South Korea's main stock market saw its trading volume shrink more than 16 percent this month from a year earlier, data showed Monday, as investors remained on the sidelines amid inflation worries and other negatives. The daily trading volume of the country's main bourse averaged 940 million shares during 10 sessions between May 2 and Friday, down 16.4 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. In particular, the average daily trading volume of the top 10 caps, exclu

Seoul shares opened higher Monday amid woes over high inflation, rake hikes and an economic slowdown. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 13.52 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,617.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, Seoul shares bounced back to snap an eight-session losing streak, as investors scooped up large-cap stocks on bargain hunting. US stocks also closed higher after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the Fed was not "actively considering"

　 Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho said Sunday the government will make it a top priority to stabilize rising product prices fueled by the Russia-Ukraine war and other external uncertainties. 　The government will set up measures for price stabilization through consultations with related ministries as quickly as possible, the finance minister said in a meeting in Seoul. 　 　“South Korea stands at a serious and urgent stage as the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, major economies‘ monetary ti

A Seoul court said Friday that it picked chemical conglomerate KG Group as the preferred bidder to acquire SsangYong Motor, a debt-ridden carmaker whose recent takeover by a local electric automaker fell apart. “We’ve looked at whether the bidder could really deliver the cash promised, given the fiasco months ago when the deal fell apart because of that,” SsangYong Motor said. The KG Group-led consortium, which includes Pavilion Private Equity, has enough cash to make the pur

Seoul shares bounced back to end higher on Friday, snapping an eight-session losing streak, as investors scooped up large-cap stocks on bargain hunting amid inflation concerns. The South Korean won rose against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 54.16 points, or 2.12 percent, to 2,604.24. The main index shed 5.4 percent over the past eight sessions through Thursday. The KOSPI had continued to fall as investors expect the Federal Reserve to deliver a series of big-s

South Korea's state power firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) on Friday reported a record-high operating loss in the first quarter of this year due to high global energy costs and the freeze in electricity rates. Operating loss for the January-March period hit an all-time quarterly high of 7.78 trillion won ($6.06 billion), compared with the operating profit of 565.6 billion won from a year earlier, the state-run firm said in its regulatory filing. The figure is even larger than the company'