Young South Koreans are anticipating the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s version of its state-backed savings account, with a goal of helping investors accrue 100 million won ($80,500). The state-backed savings account would allow South Korean residents aged between 19 and 34 to subscribe and submit a monthly payment of a maximum 700,000 won for a 10-year term, with an annual yield of 3.5 percent, a booklet of Yoon’s presidential pledges published by the People Power Party sh

South Korea's housing market sentiment shrank for the third straight month in March amid waning hopes of business improvements, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Housing Institute said its housing business sentiment index (HBSI), based on a survey of about 500 construction firms, stood at 66.2 for this month, down 1.7 points from the previous month. Yet March's on-month decrease was smaller than the previous month's decline of 9.7 points. A reading below 100 means the number of companies forecast

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, taking a cue from overnight Wall Street losses ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had decreased 13.62 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,632.03 points as of 9:15 a.m. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 2.04 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to start hiking the interest rates from near zero this week, as the Uk

South Korea's import prices grew for the second straight month in February as crude oil and other commodity prices jumped, central bank data showed Tuesday. The import price index gained 3.5 percent in February from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The rise followed a 4.4 percent rise in January. The rise came as the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has sent oil and other commodity prices even higher. The average monthly import prices of Dubai crud

A Seoul court on Monday found Hana Financial Group Chairman-nominee Ham Young-joo responsible for Hana Bank’s improper sales of derivatives-linked products that caused a fiasco in 2019 after investors saw huge losses. Defying market expectations, the Seoul Administrative Court found the chairman-nominee and then-Hana Bank CEO guilty of failing to appropriately supervise the bank’s misselling of troubled products to its consumers. The court nodded to the financial authorities&rsquo

South Korea’s NongHyup Bank has received preliminary approval from India’s financial authorities to establish a branch in the South Asian nation’s planned industrial city of Noida. If the branch is established, it will mark NongHyup’s second business entity in India, after its New Delhi office opened in 2016. The move to open a branch in Noida is part of NongHyup’s plan to have more than 14 business entities in 12 nations across the world by 2025. It opened a bran

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products soared 24 percent in February on the back of strong global demand for chips and displays, data showed Monday. Outbound shipments of ICT products reached $18.88 billion last month, up 23.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure represents the largest ever for any February and the 11th consecutive month of on-year gains since April last year. ICT imports sto

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday, as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 8.25 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,653.03 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks traded bearish, led by losses in tech companies that are usually more sensitive to borrowing costs, while financial heavyweights advanced. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise its policy interest rates in March. Inves

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks in February amid growing jitters over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, data showed Monday. Foreigners offloaded a net 2.58 trillion won ($2.09 billion) worth of local stocks last month, marking the second straight month of net selling, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Offshore investors' net selling stood at 1.68 trillion won in January. Investors have been disheartened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine that be

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of exercising his influence on a hiring request at Hana Bank when he was the CEO of the lender in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial that kicked off in June 2018 when the prosec

Foreign holdings of South Korean shares dropped to less than one-third of the market capitalization, as the Ukraine war prompted a sell-off, data showed Sunday.　 As of Friday, foreigners held 666 trillion won ($538 billion) in Korean stocks, representing just 31.86 percent in ownership of the 2,091 trillion-won market. The lowest point of foreign ownership before was in February 2016, when the figure was 31.77. Foreign investors offloaded stocks worth a net 1.4 trillion won in January and resu

Six out of 10 South Korean companies want the incoming government of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to focus on creating jobs to support the economic recovery, a survey showed Sunday. Of 157 local companies, 95, or 60.5 percent, picked job creation as the top policy priority for the new government, according to the Mono Research poll commissioned by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country's top business lobby. The Feb. 18-March 1 survey also showed resolving social conflicts ranked

Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks fell to a six-year low, bourse data showed Sunday, as overseas investors preferred safer assets in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and ahead of a widely expected US rate hike. As of Friday, foreign investors held 666 trillion won (U$538 billion) worth of local stocks on the main KOSPI, accounting for 31.86 percent of the entire 2,091 trillion-won market capitalization, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange (KRX). The foreign ownership shrank

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of receiving favors in exchange for getting his friend’s son hired at Hana Bank, when he was CEO in 2015. 　 The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial which kicked off in June 2018 when

Will W1.05b loan be possible for purchase of W1.5b apartment?