The war between Russia and Ukraine, and extended global supply disruptions are feared to sap South Korea's corporate investment and exports, and add upward pressure on inflation, the finance ministry said Friday. The South Korean economy faces heightened external uncertainty, as global economic downside risks have heightened amid major central banks' monetary tightening and China's COVID-19 lockdowns of major cities, the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report, called the Green

Seoul shares opened higher Friday as technology stocks rebounded amid concerns over the Federal Reserve's further monetary tightening to tackle high inflation. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 21.67 points, or 0.85 percent, to 2,571.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI rebounded following an eight-day losing streak as the Fed is likely to raise interest rates by a half-percentage point at each of its next two meetings. Most large-cap stocks advanced across the board

The Korea Exchange is preparing to launch a carbon credit futures contract to help bring price signals to what it says would be the new derivatives market, officials said Thursday. “The spot trading in carbon dioxide quotas has surged, but a lack of liquidity is a cause for price volatility,” an official at the bourse operator said. The new market could also help solidify the government’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the official added. The bourse operat

The global cryptocurrency market has been shaken up by the freefalling prices of Korean-made cryptocurrency terraUSD, also known as UST, and its sister token luna, raising concerns that it may lead to the crypto market’s version of the Lehman Brothers collapse. According to crypto market analysis website CoinMarketCap, the prices of terraUSD and luna recorded 857 won ($0.66) and 443 won as of 2 p.m. on Thursday, down 14 percent and 96 percent from 24 hours ago, respectively. Terraform

Fiscal deficit to reach 68 trillion won from support package

An employee at Woori Bank embezzled 490 million won ($380,000) earlier this year, reports said Thursday, dampening the lender’s struggle to rebuild its reputation after a separate 60 billion won employee theft was uncovered last month. The employee, whose identity was withheld, stole the money by withdrawing from automatic teller machines from mid-January to early February. Woori recently found out about the theft through internal auditing. The bank detected irregular activities in relat

Citigroup’s Korean unit Citibank Korea unveiled its strategy to focus on corporate banking at a town hall meeting held last week in Seoul, the bank said Thursday. According to the bank, the new strategy aims to enhance corporate banking capabilities, increase synergy among its core businesses, and protect customers during the wind-down process of its retail banking divisions. The bank said last October that it will shut down its consumer banking units and focus more on its corporate custo

Seoul shares opened lower Thursday, taking a cue from overnight falls on Wall Street amid renewed worries over the Federal Reserve's tougher monetary tightening. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 27.51 points, or 1.06 percent, to 2,564.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI had lost ground for the seven straight sessions until Wednesday as investors worried the Fed will deliver a series of big-step rate hikes in the months to come to tame high-flying inflation. Overnig

Market expects eased rules on loans, measures to protect consumers

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is moving to offer 6 million won ($4,700) or more per self-employed person in its supplementary budget, as part of the new government’s first policy to compensate those who suffered financial loss from state-led business restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. President Yoon, who took office on Tuesday, stressed the necessity of implementing a supplementary budget for the support package as promptly as possible while presiding over his first mee

Non-financial listed companies in South Korea will likely see their total operating income expand nearly 10 percent this year on rising sales, a local brokerage house said Wednesday. In its latest report, Hanwha Investment & Securities Co. forecast the combined operating income of those firms listed on the main stock market to grow 9.6 percent on-year to 208 trillion won ($163 billion) this year. Hanwha Investment & Securities based its rosy outlook on major companies' strong performance

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday as concerns over high inflation and a global economic downturn continued to weigh down the market. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 3.61 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,592.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The market had fallen for six days in a row until Tuesday, hitting a 17-month low. Overnight, US shares ended mixed on fears over an economic slowdown and the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary tightening to curb infl

South Korea's exports rose 28.7 percent in the first 10 days of May from a year earlier on the back of demand for chips and petroleum products, but the trade deficit widened over high global energy prices, customs data showed Wednesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $16.1 billion in the May 1-10 period, compared with $12.5 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports jumped 34.7 percent on-year to $19.78 billion, resulting in a trade deficit

South Korea reported job additions for the 14th consecutive month in April as economic recovery momentum has been extended despite heightened global uncertainty, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 28.08 million last month, up 865,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The April reading was higher than an on-year increase of 831,000 in March and also marked the most job additions for any April since 2000, when the number of employe

The benchmark Kospi hit a 17-month low on Tuesday on persistent market concerns over runaway inflation and sluggish growth despite President Yoon Suk-yeol’s optimistic economic outlook at his inauguration. The Kospi closed at 2596.56, the lowest level since Nov. 30, 2020, when it reached 2,591.34. Global efforts to tighten monetary policy, which the US kicked off last week with its biggest rate hike in 22 years to set the range between 0.75 percent and 1 percent, unsettled investors. A f