President Moon Jae-in hands Bank of Korea Gov. Rhee Chang-yong a certificate of appointment as the chief of the nation’s central bank at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday. Rhee, the former director of the Asia and Pacific department at the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, was nominated last month by Moon to succeed former BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, whose term ended on March 31. The high-profile official nomination was Moon’s last before he leaves office on May 10. Rhee&rsquo

South Korean shares closed higher on Thursday as institutional investors picked up large-cap chipmakers. The Korean won weakened against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) went up 9.52 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,728.21 points. Around 988 million shares worth some 9.87 trillion won ($8 billion) changed hands, with gainers slightly outnumbering losers 443 to 400. Institutions scooped up a net 637.2 billion won worth of stocks, while fo

SEJONG -- South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki kept his seat while other fiscal chiefs or central bank governors walked out of a G-20 meeting in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the ministry on Thursday.　 According to overseas news reports and remarks from British officials, top officials from the US, Canada and the UK left the G-20 finance ministerial meeting, held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday,&n

South Korean tech behemoth Samsung Electronics saw its presence on the main bourse drop to the lowest in 34 months in terms of market capitalization, data showed Thursday, with analysts pointing to volatilities caused by the global supply bottleneck and foreigners’ selling spree. Samsung’s value stood at some 402.9 trillion won ($325.7 billion) as of April 14, accounting for 18.91 percent of the Kospi’s total market value of 2,131 trillion won, according to data provided by t

Local drug developer GI Innovation has submitted a preliminary application for listing on the country’s secondary tech-heavy bourse Kosdaq with its eyes set on going public in the second half of the year, the company said Thursday. GI Innovation’s initial public offering will be carried out under Kosdaq’s special listing track, known as the “unicorn special listing.” The Korea Exchange established the unicorn special listing process in April last year to simplify

South Korea's exports rose 16.9 percent in the first 20 days of April from a year earlier on the back of demand for chips and petroleum products, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $36.3 billion in the April 1-20 period, compared with $31 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 25.5 percent on-year to $41.5 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $5.2 billion during the cited period, the data showed. By

South Korea's producer prices rose for the third straight month in March as high energy and raw material prices pushed up the costs of churning out factory goods, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 116.46 in March, up 1.3 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, the index also jumped 8.8 percent, which was faster than the previous month's 8.5 perce

South Korean shares opened higher Thursday as investors picked up large-cap shares amid woes over high-flying inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 12.78 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,731.47 as of 9:15 a.m. Overnight, the US stock markets ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.71 percent, while the S&P500 fell 0.06 percent and the Nasdaq was down 1.22 percent. On the Seoul bourse, shares mostly traded higher. Market bellwether Samsung Electro

Finance Minister Hong at finish line after dealing with market pandemic-triggered economic crisis, real estate

South Korean shares closed nearly flat Wednesday as investors took a wait-and-see approach over the global economic slowdown and the US central bank's monetary tightening. The Korean won went up against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched down 0.2 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,718.69 points. Around 1.7 billion shares worth some 12.1 trillion won ($9.8 billion) changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 513 to 317. Foreigners s

South Korean authorities are considering to classify Dunamu -- the operator of the nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit -- as a “large business,” which would put the firm under further government scrutiny, sources said Wednesday. The Fair Trade Commission annually reviews businesses with a total asset over 5 trillion won ($4.03 billion) on whether they should be subject to stricter regulations. Those who are deemed as large businesses – firms with assets of mor

South Korea's top economic policymaker has stressed the need to balance market mechanisms against non-pricing policy measures in coordinating global efforts to fight climate change, his office said Wednesday.Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki made the remarks during an online meeting of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Actions held Tuesday."The proper combination of market mechanisms, such as an emissions trading system, and non-price policy support is a must in responding to climat

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, despite overnight gains on Wall Street, as large-cap tech shares lost ground on profit-taking. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 8.88 points, or 0.33 percent, to reach 2,710.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks rose ahead of the corporate earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.45 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index soared 2.15 percent. In Seoul, big-cap tech and bio sh

South Korea's wheat import prices soared to an over 13-year high in March on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a global supply chain bottleneck, data showed Wednesday, exerting upward pressure on food prices here. The country's import prices of wheat amounted to $402 per ton last month, up 8.8 percent from the previous month and the highest level since December 2008, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. Compared with a year earlier, the per-ton

South Korea placed second in research and development (R&D) spending as a portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) among major developed countries in 2020, but its tepid growth in recent years calls for more policy support, a report said Wednesday. South Korea's R&D expenditures reached 93.1 trillion won ($75.4 billion) in 2020, accounting for 4.81 percent of GDP, according to a recent report by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country's largest business lobby. That made