South Korea's finance ministry vowed Friday to seek preemptive measures, if needed, to tackle market volatility "in an aggressive and swift manner" following the US central bank's half-point rate hike. On Wednesday (US time), the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rates by a half-percentage point to curb the country's worst inflation in about four decades. The increase was the sharpest in 22 years. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said 50-basis point rate hikes &quo

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Friday, as investors fret over an economic downturn after the US Federal Reserve raised the interest rate to tame high inflation. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 34.89 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,642.68 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Fed hiked the short-term rate by the widely expected 0.5 percentage point in its policy meeting Wednesday (US time). Shares in Seoul declined across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electro

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its biggest rate hike since 2000, with a half percentage point increase as it works to crush soaring US inflation. With inflation at the highest rate in four decades, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sent a message directly to the American people, expressing concern for the pain caused by rising prices, and pledging to use all available tools to bring them down. But he told reporters he remains confident the economy is strong enough to

The number of South Koreans who are 19 and below and hold shares in Samsung Electronics reached 358,257 in December last year, a record high, according to the Korea Securities Depository. That number accounts for 7.07 percent of all shareholders and 0.25 percent of the total shares the tech giant has issued. The shares the teenagers held at the time amounted to 1.1 trillion won ($891 million), which is equal to 971 billion at Tuesday’s closing share price. The rise in the number of teen

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the ratio of collective debt -- held by the government, household and corporate sector -- to its gross domestic product climb sharply over the past few years since 2017, and even during the pandemic. Further, the nation’s collective debt-to-GDP ratio was found to have continued to rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the G20 countries on average saw a decline in the figure, a local research institute said Wednesday, citing the Bank for International Settlements

Regulators seek to classify fractional investment platforms as securities traders, warn investors of weak measures for protection

South Korea's central bank is expected to hike its key interest rate four more times by year's end considering its hawkish stance shown in the minutes of its latest rate-setting meeting, global investment bank JP Morgan said Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Bank of Korea (BOK) disclosed the minutes of its monetary policy board meeting on April 14, showing that its members called for further rate increases to tame inflation. The BOK raised the rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.5 percent during th

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea fell 9.8 percent last month from a year earlier as chip shortages continued to affect vehicle production, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 23,070 units last month from 25,578 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 350 4MATIC sedan, BMW's 520 sedan and Merc

South Korea's foreign reserves shrank for the second straight month in April as the strong dollar resulted in a fall in converted value of non-dollar holdings and the government unloaded the greenback to defend the local currency, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's foreign reserves stood at $449.3 billion as of end-April, down $8.51 billion from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This marked the second straight month of on-month declines

SEJONG -- Korea’s consumer prices climbed the fastest in more than 13 years last month in the wake of a spike in international raw materials prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as sharply rising global demand for goods, state data showed Tuesday. According to Statistics Korea, consumer prices rose 4.8 percent last month, compared to a year earlier. This marked the highest since October 2008, when the same figure of 4.8 percent was reported. The surge came despite a Ba

South Korean stocks finished slightly lower Tuesday amid inflation woes and uncertainty over this week's US Federal Reserve meeting. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 6.99 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 2,680.46. Trading volume was moderate at about 869 million shares worth some 9 trillion won ($7.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 475 to 368. Institutions sold a net 214 billion won, while foreign and reta

South Korean shares edged higher Tuesday, tracking a cue from overnight Wall Street gains, amid market uncertainty ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve meeting. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.20 points, or 0.01 percent, to trade at 2,687.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point this week, kicking off a series of aggressive rate hikes to tackle the highest inflation in decades. Overnig

South Korea's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in more than 13 years in April amid soaring energy costs caused by Russia's war with Ukraine and a rebound in demand from the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Consumer prices spiked 4.8 percent last month from a year earlier, accelerating from a 4.1 percent on-year gain in March, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the fastest on-year rise since the same 4.8 percent increase in October 2008, when the country was in the midst

SEJONG -- South Korea’s trade-related officials are striving to overcome the worsening trade balance in the wake of declining exports to major destinations, including China and Russia, from a variety of incidents. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo on Monday presided over a meeting to map out countermeasures against external negative factors which involve China’s possible lockdown of more major cities aside from Shanghai against variants of COVID-19 and the war between Ukraine and Russia.

FSS, lender failed to spot one of the biggest bank embezzlements here despite regular audits