South Korean stocks are likely to come under selling pressure next week, as investors could take to the sidelines amid weakening local currency and uncertainties from the Fed's earlier-than-expected timeline for policy tightening, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 3,267.93 points Friday, up 0.57 percent from a week ago. The KOSPI set a new all-time high Wednesday on strong individual buying, backed by speculation that the US Federal Rese

Coming under increasing pressure from financial regulators, local cryptocurrency exchanges have hastily delisted dozens of digital coins, but the removals create negative impact on investors, experts said on Friday. Since Upbit announced its decision to discontinue the trading of five coins on June 11, two more exchange - Bithumb and Coinbit - joined the move with sudden delisting and investment warnings. “Inadequate digital tokens certainly have to be removed from the market but hasty d

South Korea’s No. 2 carrier Asiana Airlines and its two affiliated companies face possibilities of being delisted from the nation’s main bourse Kospi, according to industry sources Friday. The country’s bourse operator Korea Exchange announced Thursday that it has decided to examine the air carrier’s listing eligibility in line with the former Kumho Asiana Group chief’s arrest over allegedly unfair interaffiliate deals. The KRX has made an additional decision to

South Korean stocks rebounded Friday as hopes for an economic recovery offset concerns over an earlier-than-expected tapering move by the US Federal Reserve. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 2.97 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 3,267.93 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.6 billion shares worth some 17.1 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 464 to 382. Foreigners sold a net 823 bil

South Korea's electricity consumption nearly rebounded to the pre-pandemic level in April amid the recovery of industrial and business activities, data showed Friday. Asia's fourth-largest economy used 41,900 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power in April, up 3.5 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO). South Korea's power consumption earlier dropped 4.6 percent on-year in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a harsh blow to the economy. The

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on overnight tech gains on Wall Street, with investors digesting the impact of the Fed's faster-than-expected timeline for policy tightening. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) increased 7.75 points, or 0.24 percent, to 3,272.71 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks opened with mild gains after the key stock index snapped its five-session winning streak the previous session. The rebound came amid the ongoing tussle between a

The regulatory Financial Services Commission on Thursday said that it will add detailed measures to the legislation governing cryptocurrency exchanges in an effort to tame their attempts at price fixing. Cryptocurrency exchanges will be banned from handling digital tokens issued by themselves or affiliated people, according to a pre-announcement of the revisions made to the enforcement decree of for the Specified Financial Transaction Information. Executives and employees of an exchange are ba

South Korea's global competitiveness ranking remained unchanged this year after rising by five notches in the previous year on the back of its efforts to contain the pandemic, a report showed Thursday. The country ranked 23rd in terms of global competitiveness among 64 countries surveyed, according to the 2021 report by the International Institute for Management Development. IMD, a Swiss-based international institution, has been releasing the report every year since 1989 based on a country's e

Kospi, crypto trade bearish on Fed’s hawkish stance, curbing confidence over economic recovery

South Korean stocks ended a five-session winning streak Thursday as investor sentiment for risky assets weakened over the Federal Reserve's comments about an earlier-than-expected timeline for a rate hike. The Korean won steeply fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 13.72 points, or 0.42 percent, to close at 3,264.96 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.8 billion shares worth some 14.4 trillion won ($12.7 billion), with losers outnum

Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai (fifth from left, second row) poses with female midlevel managers during a launch ceremony of a new in-house program titled Hana Waves held at its headquarters in central Seoul on Tuesday. Members invited to the first series of programs have been recommended by CEOs of Hana affiliates to develop their leadership roles as part of the group‘s gender diversity efforts at the C-suite level. (Hana Financial Group)

The likely scenario of South Korea’s central bank carrying out out a rate hike by the end of the year is unlikely to cool the heated housing market here, industry insiders said on Thursday, dismissing the impact of monetary policies on real estate prices that surged in recent months. The envisioned rate hike would lead to an increase in the interest rates for household loans and mortgages extended by local commercial banks. But the housing market is likely to stay hot for a while mainly d

Sagging tour products poised to rebound

South Korean companies saw their profitability continue their growth in the first quarter, with their sales rebounding from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. The ratio of operating profit to sales of firms in the country reached 6.4 percent in the first quarter, up from 4.2 percent tallied a year ago, according to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). At the same time, the pretax net profit margin of South Korean companies rose on-year to 7.9 percent from

South Korea will closely monitor the financial market as market volatility could increase following the Federal Reserve's signal of an earlier-than-expected rate hike, a senior government official said Thursday. After freezing its key rate at near zero at a policy meeting, the Fed signaled an earlier-than-expected rate increase in 2023 as US inflation is rising amid an economic recovery. The US central bank also hinted it began discussing when to taper bond-buying programs. Bearing the Fed's s