Major developed countries bouncing back faster

South Korean household income declined in the second quarter from a year earlier due to last year's high base after the government doled out massive pandemic relief funds to all households the previous year, data showed Thursday. The average household earned 4.29 million won ($3,600) per month in the April-June period, down 0.7 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the first on-year fall since the second quarter of 2017, when household income di

South Korea's tax agency said Thursday it has launched probes into suspected tax evasion by 97 young people who acquired houses through undue wealth transfers from their parents. The National Tax Service (NTS) said it has conducted a crackdown on underaged people who own expensive apartments and houses even though they have no ability to earn money. The probe came as cases of house acquisition by people aged under 20 markedly increased despite an overall decline in housing transactions. Amid

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday as investor sentiment weakened over the US Federal Reserve minutes that hinted at the possibility of an earlier-than-expected tapering timeline. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 11.18 points, or 0.35 percent, to 3,147.75 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a lackluster start, tracking the overnight Wall Street stock plunge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.08 percent as Federal Reserve minute

The number of consumer complaints against financial firms fell 7 percent on year in the first-half of this year, official data showed Thursday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it received a total of 42,725 consumer complaints in the January-June period, compared with 45,922 complaints for the same period in 2020. The decline was mainly due to the base effect of last year, when financial complaints grew over the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSS said. Deceptive sales of investment produc

South Korea plans to unveil additional measures to curb a sustained increase in household debt, if needed, by mobilizing all available policy means, the nominee for the financial regulator has said. Koh Seung-beom, the nominee for the Financial Service Commission, told officials Tuesday that he will "swiftly" push for "strong" measures to tackle household debt if his nomination is confirmed by parliament, according to the FSC. "It is very urgent to get rid of macroecon

The routine of South Korean retail investors picking up massively offloaded shares by foreigners has continued since last week, but experts have been raising concerns over growing risks of their buying spree if the market remains bearish for a while. According to the Korea Exchange Wednesday, offshore investors pushed for a selling spree Tuesday for a sixth consecutive session since Aug. 9 on the nation’s main bourse market, dumping a net 7.46 trillion won ($6.38 billion). They offload

BlackRock Real Assets said Wednesday it has signed an agreement to acquire an undisclosed amount of equity stake in South Korean solar aggregator and operator Brite Energy Partners. The US-based investment firm aims to inject more than $100 million capital over time to fund the acquisition and construction of solar assets of over 350 megawatts in power generation capacity. All projects developed and acquired by Brite Energy Partners are expected to be fully contracted under 20-year terms with K

South Korean stocks rose Wednesday, snapping an eight-session losing streak as investors expected the US. Federal minutes would cause little ripples on tapering of stimulus policies. The Korean won rose against the US. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 15.84 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 3,158.93 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 614 million shares worth some 16.5 trillion won ($14.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 645 to 212.

Bithumb Korea, the operator of a local cryptocurrency exchange, saw a 1,100 percent jump in its net profit, according to a financial statement of Vident, the largest shareholder of the exchange on Wednesday. Bithumb’s revenue in the first half of the year stood at 608.7 billion won ($520.9 million), soaring 507 percent on-year, while its net profit rose a whopping 1,100 percent to 603.3 billion won, the data showed. Kim Sung-kwon, a press officer at Vident, said Bithumb‘s annual

South Korea’s potential growth rate has declined for decades, reflecting the nation’s aging society, slowing capital accumulation and changing job market, a think tank report showed Wednesday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s potential growth rate – gross domestic product per person aged 15 and over – by decade came to an average 2.1 percent in the 2010s, compared with 7.6 percent in the 1980s, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute. The figure has

The National Pension Service, South Korea’s public pension scheme, divested its entire 11.5 million shares in General Electric as of end-June, a regulatory filing showed Wednesday. The world’s third-largest pension fund no longer held a share in Boston-based conglomerate General Electric, which was the 66th-largest stake it built with a $151.6 million valuation in March, according to quarterly filings submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. GE gained a shareholder

South Korean steelmakers appear to be in the final stage of negotiations with shipbuilders over prices of thick steel plates, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Posco, the country's largest steelmaker, has reportedly proposed a hike in the prices of thick steel plates -- a key material that accounts for about one-fifth of shipbuilding costs -- to 1.15 million won ($980) per ton. The offer marked a sharp increase from the first half of this year when thick steel plates were sold at

The real estate investment trust (REIT) unit of SK Group, South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, said Wednesday it will carry out an initial public offering in September. SK REIT said it will sell 46.5 million shares to investors in the planned IPO, whose specific date has yet to be unveiled. Its public offering price has been set at 5,000 won ($4.26) per share, with the company seeking to raise about 233 billion won through the IPO. After a demand forecast session for institutions on Aug. 23-24,

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday it will reduce production at its US plant this week due to a chip shortage. Hyundai Motor will cut vehicle production at the Alabama plant from Tuesday to Friday (US time) over a lack of semiconductor parts, a company spokesman said over the phone. The Alabama plant halted operations for one week last month due to the same problem. From January to July, Hyundai's vehicle sales rose 22% to 2.34 million units from 1.92 million in the year-ago perio