South Korea plans to take measures to stabilize the financial market if needed, as it has been suffering increased volatility on fears that the Federal Reserve may hike a key rate sooner than expected on inflation woes, a senior government official said Thursday. First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said there is no need for market players to sensitively react to US inflation data as its consumer prices are judged to have temporarily risen amid an economic recovery and a low base effect. &

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday, taking a cue from heavy losses on Wall Street that stemmed from quick inflation concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 37.33 points, or 1.18 percent, to 3,124.33 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.67 percent as the US consumer prices expanded in April by the most since 2009, increasing investor worries that the US Federal Reserve's tapering may come sooner than e

South Korea’s financial regulator Financial Services Commission has allowed Mirae Asset Securities to issue short-term financing bills after a rigorous review, according to sources on Wednesday. With the final approval, the brokerage firm will have more financial leeway to manage bigger funds than a regular securities firm, launching it one step forward to becoming a so-called mega investment bank. A mega investment bank can issue promissory notes with a maximum limit of 200 percent of i

Financial giant’s chief digital officer in search of innovative financial services for young consumers, eyes acquisition of IT platform　　

South Korea’s Woori Financial Group said Wednesday that it was donating $100,000 to India to help the country win its battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Joining forces with the Community Chest of Korea, the financial conglomerate will offer the donation to the United Way, a nonprofit organization. The donation will be used to procure medical supplies, including oxygen ventilators, build temporary hospitals, and provide food and daily necessities for communities in India. Woori Fina

South Korean stocks fell over 1 percent for the second straight session Wednesday as foreign investors dumped local shares amid growing worries over inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 47.77 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 3,161.66 points. Trading volume was high at about 1.4 billion shares worth some 22.2 trillion won ($19.83 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 705 to 178. Foreigners offloaded a net

Kakaobank, the country’s second internet-only bank, has cut interest rates for mid-range credit holders, the lender said on Wednesday, in the latest attempt to provide better services to customers with thin credit files. The banking arm of mobile giant Kakao said it has slashed rates by up to 1.2 percentage points for mid-range credit holders. The bank also expanded a loan limit from 50 million won ($44,518) to 70 million won for them while halving the limit for high creditors to 50 mil

Global ratings firm Moody’s has kept the credit rating of South Korea at Aa2, affirming the outlook at stable, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday. The US rating firm holds discussions with the ministry and the state-run Bank of Korea on a regular basis before annoucing a credit rating report for the nation The rating agency cited the nation’s strong economic fundamentals, and quick economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as some of the reasons

Morgan Stanley Capital International announced Wednesday that it has added four South Korean stocks -- HMM, Hybe, SKC and GC Pharma -- to its global and regional equity index, as part of May rebalancing. The US company also removed seven listed firms -- Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, Hanwha, GS Retail, Samsung Card, Lotte Corp., Korea Gas Corporation and Ottogi -- from the MSCI Korea Index. As a result, the regional equity index’s constituents of large- and mid-cap stocks fell to

Foreign investors turned net buyers of South Korean equities in April, ending their four-month selling spree, the central bank said Wednesday. Foreigners purchased a net $590 million worth of local stocks last month, compared with net selling of $2.58 billion in March, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). Offshore investors, however, remained net buyers of Korean bonds worth $2.74 billion last month, the BOK said. Meanwhile, volatility in South Korea's currency slightly fell in April from th

South Korean banks' household loans grew at a faster clip in April, as money chased after initial public offerings, central bank data showed Wednesday. The value of outstanding bank loans to local households came to 1,025.7 trillion won ($912.2 billion) as of end-April, up 16.1 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The April reading represents a hike from a 6.5 trillion-won gain in March. The BOK said the rise in lending was mainly attributa

South Korea's personal computer (PC) market expanded to the largest in 10 years in the first quarter of 2021, industry data showed Wednesday, due to robust demand for online education and remote working amid the pandemic. Domestic PC shipments stood at 1.89 million units in the January-March period, up 30.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from market researcher IDC Korea. This was the largest PC shipment volume in South Korea since the first quarter of 2012, when it recorded 1.9

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as concerns of inflation weighed down on investor sentiment. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.9 points, or 0.12 percent, to 3,205.53 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.36 percent as rising commodity prices fueled worries of inflation. In Seoul, market behemoth Samsung Electronics shed 0.25 percent, while No. 2 chipm

South Korea reported the largest job growth in almost seven years in April in the latest sign that the job market is recovering from a yearlong slump caused by the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 27.2 million last month, 652,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest on-year increase since August 2014, when the number of employed people rose 670,000. The April reading also marked the second str

Global ratings firm Moody’s raised its rating outlook for South Korean securities firm Mirae Asset Securities from negative to stable, forecasting that regulatory measures by the financial authorities will likely curb the growth of the company’s risky assets. “The change from negative to stable takes into account Moody’s expectation of slower risk asset growth as a result of various prudential regulatory measures implemented by the Korean Financial Supervisory Service