South Korean internet-only bank is slated to debut on the country's main stock market this week in one of this year's mega initial public offerings. Kakao Bank will make its debut on the KOSPI market Friday, with its public offering price set at 39,000 won ($34.1). Kakao Bank, the larger of South Korea's two online lenders, hopes to raise 2.55 trillion won via its listing on the main bourse. Its IPO has drawn a rather tepid response from retail investors with the subscription rate standing at

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday, backed by strong advances in major bio stocks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) added 6.83 points, or 0.21 percent, to trade at 3,287.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Bio stocks jumped as the country's daily new coronavirus cases sharply increased to the 1,700s on Wednesday despite the strongest virus restrictions. Giant pharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics jumped 3.1 percent, with Celltrion advancing 1.67 percent. SK B

Despite the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic striking a blow to the South Korean economy, global credit appraiser S&P Global Ratings said it would keep the country’s economic growth rate outlook for 2021 and credit rating unchanged, citing robust exports. The agency projected Asia’s fourth-largest economy to grow 4 percent and kept the credit rating at AA, same as estimates from last month and in April. “Overall economic forecasts for South Korea are still looking f

Seoul-based consulting firm KPMG Samjong on Wednesday urged local financial firms to accelerate their sustainable corporate management through business strategies focused on environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG.  “To enhance corporate values, local financial institutions should integrate ESG values into their business processes, ranging from strategy making to risk management,” KPMG Samjong said in its report.  “For instance, while improving gover

South Korean stocks rallied by more than 1 percent Wednesday, mostly led by strong tech gains. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 43.24 points, or 1.34 percent, to close at 3,280.38 points. The figure marks the largest daily gain since May 10. Trading volume was moderate at about 621 million shares worth some 12.2 trillion won (US$10.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 713 to 149. Foreigners bought a net 908 billion

Among South Korean CEOs taking advantage of low share prices in the initial phase of the pandemic, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun was the most active purchaser, and also generated the largest gains, data showed Wednesday. Of 852 former and incumbent CEOs of the country’s top 500 listed companies in terms of market capitalization, 144 purchased shares in their companies between January last year and July 30 this year, according to local corporate tracker CEO Score. The CEOs bo

Amsterdam-based APG Asset Management, a subsidiary of Dutch pension fund administrator APG, warned in a letter to the South Korean government that its failure to scrap a plan to build coal-fired power plants here will constitute a “significant risk factor” to its investment in Korea. The letter, disclosed by Seoul-based nonprofit Solutions for Our Climate Wednesday, involves three plants with a combined power capacity of 6.3 gigawatts under construction in Gangwon Province. The pri

South Korea’s NH NongHyup Bank, which issues real-name accounts for two major cryptocurrency exchanges here – Bithumb and Coinone – asked them to halt deposit and withdrawal services until they adopt stronger money laundering regulations, reports said Wednesday. The commercial lender has reportedly requested the two exchanges to quicken its pace in adopting the “travel rule,” a global standard that requires virtual asset service providers to share the identities of

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is expected to conduct two rate increases this year as its policymakers have turned more hawkish on an economic rebound, global investment bank JP Morgan said Wednesday. In a revised forecast on the BOK's rate policy, JP Morgan forecast the country's central bank could start its rate increase at this month's policy-setting meeting slated for Aug. 26. The BOK is also likely to raise the country's benchmark interest rate once during the fourth quarter of the year with ano

SEJONG -- The number of multi-level marketing (MLM) firms operating in South Korea dropped in 2020 from a year earlier in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the antitrust watchdog said Wednesday. There were 122 MLMs in Asia's fourth-largest economy as of end-December, down eight from a year earlier, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). Last year's drop represents a turnaround from the uptrend in the number of MLMs in the country, which started in 2017. The FTC said the 2020 decrea

Online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in the second quarter as more people used e-commerce shopping platforms amid a contactless trend caused by the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 46.9 trillion won ($40.8 billion) in the April-June period, up 25.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Amid an economic recovery and a non-contact consumption trend, online purchases of goods and services gained gro

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 23 percent in July from a year earlier despite the extended COVID-19 pandemic, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 24,389 units last month from 19,778 a year ago on strong sales of German vehicles, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 250 sedan and E220d 4MATIC sedan and

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street over optimism for strong corporate earnings. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.51 points, or 0.2 percent, to trade at 3,243.65 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a strong start on foreign buying, led by tech gains. The S&P 500 gained 0.82 percent to close at a record high, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite

South Korea's foreign reserves rose to an all-time high in July as a weaker US dollar raised the value of non-dollar assets, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's foreign reserves came to $458.7 billion as of end-July, up $4.58 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion. The BOK sai

Krafton, the South Korean game maker behind global smash hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has drawn lower-than-expected interest from retail investors for its initial public offering, with deposits for the stock offering at 5.04 trillion won ($4.38 billion) by its two-day public subscriptions’ deadline at 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to data compiled by its underwriters. The amount for the accumulated subscriptions was far less than SK ie technology (80.9 trillion won) and SK Bioscie