Rate hike fear unlikely to slow property, equity buying spree in H2, experts say

South Korea‘s sole sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corp., divested the entirety of 2.9 million shares in Alibaba Group Holding -- the 25th-biggest United States-listed stock it was holding earlier this year -- during the second quarter of this year, a filing showed Friday. The quarterly report, submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, also indicated that its positions toward US-listed Chinese technology stocks were mixed at the end of June, before Beijing’s sw

Shares of Samsung Group’s major units lost ground just as its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was released on parole Friday, seven months after being return to prison for bribery involving former President Park Geun-hye. Shares of Samsung Electronics, the group’s flagship company and world’s largest memory chip maker, closed at 74,400 won ($63.66), down 3.38 percent from the previous session’s close. The stock began trading at 1.43 percent lower and further dropped to hit i

South Korean stocks plunged more than 1 percent Friday, extending their losing streak to a seventh session, as major chipmakers came under heavy sell-offs by foreign investors amid concerns of a fall in chip prices. The Korean won declined against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 37.09 points, or 1.16 percent, to close at 3,171.29 points, after hitting an intraday low of 3,146.76 points. Trading volume was high at about 684 million shares worth s

The South Korean government will increase supplies of key fruits and vegetables from its stockpiles to stabilize market prices ahead of the Chuseok holiday set for Sept. 20-22, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Friday. “Prices of agricultural, livestock and fisheries products, which advanced 9.6 percent in July, continued a downward trend for a fifth consecutive month, but the figure still remained at a high level on the back of bird flu outbreaks coupled with an increase in

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks last month, extending their selling spree for a third consecutive month, data showed Friday. Foreigners sold a net 3.77 trillion won ($3.26 billion) worth of local stocks in July, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). British investors sold a net 2.3 trillion won of stocks last month, while investors from Middle Eastern nations net purchased 500 billion won worth of stocks, according to the FSS. As of

South Korea's export prices rose in July, marking the eighth straight monthly gain amid a strong recovery in exports, central bank data showed Friday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, rose 3.5 percent in July from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the eighth consecutive month of an on-month rise. In June, the index rose 0.7 percent on-month. From a year earlier, the index jumped 16.9 percent

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday as giant chipmakers suffered an extended slump amid concerns of a price fall of DRAM. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 11.9 points, or 0.37 percent, to 3,196.48 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks declined below the 3,200-point mark, largely on chip heavyweights' weeklong losses Foreigners continued to sell shares of large chip companies, following brokerage reports tat said demand for chips may decrease after t

Both volume and face value of damaged banknotes found in South Korea dipped in the first half of this year as people used cash less amid a non-contact consumption trend due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the central bank said Friday. In the January-June period, the face value of damaged banknotes discarded by the Bank of Korea came to 1.03 trillion won ($890 million), compared with 2.69 trillion won for the same period last year, according to the BOK. The volume of damaged banknotes also plunged 36

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Eun Sung-soo, head of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), went into self-quarantine Thursday after having come into contact with government employees infected with COVID-19, officials said. Hong, who has come into contact with a ministry employee infected with the delta variant, will self-isolate until Thursday next week in line with health authorities' antivirus guidelines, although he has been fully vaccinated and tested negative recently. Due to his s

Krafton not invited to MSCI’s emerging market index this time

After showing modest signs of recovery, South Korea’s economy is going to face pressure from the ongoing fourth wave of COVID-19 starting from this month, the country’s top economic policymaker said Thursday. “As the ripple effect of the fourth wave of the pandemic seems to be inevitable to some extent from August, it is necessary to stay alert to minimize the shock and to maintain the recovery trend,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during an economic meeting at the

NH NongHyup Bank said Thursday it has launched a branch office in London to make inroads into the UK’s banking industry, as part of the lender’s overseas business strategies aimed at expanding its global presence.  “It is meaningful that (NH NongHyup Bank) has entered the UK market, Europe‘s major global finance center and the birthplace of financial cooperatives, in 2021, which marks its 60th anniversary. We will speed up efforts to become a global cooperative b

South Korea has floated more bonds associated with environmental, social and sustainability issues this year than in all of 2020, setting an annual record in the fast-growing market, data showed Thursday. Since January, 116 Korean entities issued green bonds, social bonds and sustainable development bonds worth a combined 60.6 trillion won ($52.3 billion), according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange. This beat the previous annual record of 58.9 trillion won floated by 23 entities in 2020

Naver’s mobile messenger Line’s blockchain subsidiary said Thursday its crytocurrecy Link will be listed on the country’s exchange Bithumb and start trading in the market on Friday. Line Blockchain and Bithumb said that the deposit and withdrawal address of the cryptocurrency account will be released soon. Link is a cryptocurrency issued by its Sinpapore branch Line Tech Plus, using “Link chain,” a blockchain mainnet made by Line itself, where the actual transact