South Korea's exports soared 81.2 percent on-year in the first 10 days of May as shipments of chips, autos and petroleum goods remained robust amid a global economic recovery, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $12.5 billion in the May 1-10 period, compared with $6.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports rose 51.5 percent on-year to $14.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.1 billion during the cited pe

South Korea’s securities brokerage houses are in a heated race to attract retail stock investors with an interest in the US stock market, providing more cost-competitive services and enhancing those services with technology. Their services sweeten the deal for day traders here, who are increasingly fond of US stocks such as Tesla, Apple, Amazon.com, Alphabet, Nvidia and Microsoft, as the brokerages even buy and sell stocks overnight. With the start of daylight saving time in the US, regu

Under Moon’s presidency, Seoul apartment prices rose 35% on average

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi set a fresh record at Monday’s closing, backed by foreign and institutional investors’ massive buying on eased inflation worries around the globe. The key stock index closed 1.63 percent higher at 3,249.30 points, breaking its previous record of 3,220.70 points from April 20. The Kospi got off to a solid start at 3,201.46 and soared to 3,255.90 at one point during Monday’s trading. It was the second time the index surpassed the 3,250-poin

South Korea's stock market closed at an all-time high Monday as weaker-than-expected US jobs data quelled concerns over the rollback of easing monetary policy and other stimulus measures. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) went up 52.1 points, or 1.63 percent, to close at 3,249.3 points. The previous record closing was 3,208.99 points on April 20. Trading volume was moderate at about 996 million shares worth some 16.9 trillion won

South Korea’s bank association has recently advised its members to count the number of altcoins in order to gauge the trading capacity of an exchange, in an apparent move to reduce exposure to risks the minor cryptocurrencies are witnessing, industry sources said Monday. “One of the criteria that we recommend is the safety of digital assets and that can be measured by the number of digital coins on an exchange. If an exchange deals with too many digital assets, it takes on more risk

South Korea’s income inequality has worsened after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, with rising female unemployment and pay cuts widening the gap, a report from the central bank showed Monday. The average income earned by the bottom 20 percent here in the April-December period last year declined by 17.1 percent on-year, data compiled by the Bank of Korea showed. The income loss is larger than those of other income groups, such as the top 20 percent, which shed an average

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Monday it had launched a new digital platform within its mobile banking application to provide wealth management information, targeting the under-40s.  Branded as Wealth Care Lounge, the app-based information channel introduces recent investment trends, money management tips, advice from experts on financial planning and information regarding upcoming finance webinars.  The bank also set up its own KakaoTalk Channel as well as webpage on Naver Pos

The partial reactivation of short selling in South Korea, which kicked off last week, weakened investor sentiment among day traders, but the overall impact on the market was limited, according to industry sources on Monday.  The key stock index maintained its upward trend. Short selling is a trading tactic where investors immediately sell borrowed stocks on a bet that share prices will fall, allowing them to profit by later repurchasing the stocks and returning them to the lender. 

The Jeju Beer Company, based on the southern resort island of Jeju in South Korea, said Monday that it plans to become the first local craft brewer to go public. Its planned market debut on the nation’s tech-heavy Kosdaq this month is set to raise 24.2 billion won ($21.70 million) worth of fresh funds. The homegrown craft brewer seeks to issue some 8.36 million shares in a price band of 2,600-2,900 won, with Daishin Securities as the lead underwriter. “Taking the Kosdaq listing as

Bond issuance in South Korea rose sharply in April from the previous month due mainly to a surge in corporate debt sales, data showed Monday. The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 83 trillion won ($74.1 billion) last month, up 9.3 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. April's jump represents a drastic turnaround from an on-month decline of some 720 billion won in March. Sales of corporate bonds surg

South Korea's financial regulator said Monday it will set up another fund of 1 trillion won ($896 million) to help companies seeking to restructure. The fund is aimed at helping companies start their restructuring process as the nation's economy shows signs of emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in a statement. State-run banks, including the Korea Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, will invest a total of 451 billion won into the

The South Korean economy is on a modest recovery track despite spiking coronavirus cases as the manufacturing sector has continued to improve on robust exports, a state-run think tank said Monday. The country's exports and facility investment logged accelerated growth amid continued improvement in external demand, according to a monthly economic assessment report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI). "As retail sales, exports, and equipment investment all improved, the manufacturing i

South Korean manufacturers' domestic supply rose for the first time in a year in the first quarter of 2021 as the country's economy is on a recovery track on robust exports, data showed Monday. The manufacturing domestic supply index stood at 105.6 in the January-March period, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The index, which measures both locally produced goods and imports, serves as a major indicator of domestic demand trends. The quarterly in

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on strong advances by bio and chemical shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 23.87 points, or 0.75 percent, to 3,221.07 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a solid start after increasing in the past three sessions. Investor sentiment remained high despite increased valuation pressure as disappointing US jobs data eased concerns about earlier-than-expected inflation. Top cap Samsung Electronics