Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Monday that the government will spare no efforts this year to stabilize housing prices that have been rising despite a series of measures to cool down the property market. The minister also said that policy efforts will be put into place to pull off a "fast and strong" economic recovery this year as Asia's fourth-largest economy faces growing uncertainties such as a resurgence in new coronavirus cases. "From the beginning of the new year, we wil

South Korean stocks kicked off higher Monday, the first session of the new year, led by strong chip and auto gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 4.48 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,877.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.37 percent, but No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 2.95 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor soared 6.77 percent, and its auto part making affiliate Hyundai Mobis spiked 12.13 percent. Leading chem

South Korea's wine imports soared to a record high in 2020 as more people enjoyed drinking and partied at home due to the coronavirus outbreak, government data showed Monday. South Korea imported $239 million worth of wines in the January-November period last year, much higher than the $204 million for the whole of 2019, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service. If the December numbers are included, last year's value of wine imports will far exceed the previous year's tally. Last ye

The number of companies delisted from the South Korean stock market rose fourfold in 2020 from the previous year due to poor financial health or other reasons, data showed Monday. A total of 16 firms, including solar-battery parts maker Woongjin Energy Co., were delisted from the country's main KOSPI and secondary KOSDAQ markets last year, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. Three companies were removed from the main bourse and the remainder from the tech-laden KOSDAQ market. Of th

Increased liquidity, tightened housing regulations, and anticipation of post-pandemic recovery to attract more ‘ant warriors’ to equity investment in 2021

Holdings of small shareholders in the nation’s largest company, Samsung Electronics, grew to 6.5 percent in 2020, up from 3.6 percent at the end of 2019, data showed Sunday. The number of small stockholders is expected to have more than tripled from 568,313 to 2 million during the same period. Small shareholders refer to individual investors who have less than a 1 percent stake. The portion of Samsung shares held by retail traders in 2019 stood at 3.6 percent in end-2019 while domestic

The Industrial Bank of Korea said Sunday it will officially launch and operate a local subsidiary in Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar as early as this month, which marks its third overseas unit, following its operation in China and Indonesia.  Branded as IBK Bank Myanmar, its new overseas subsidiary was designed to handle various banking services, including corporate financing, personal financial management as well as foreign exchange business, officials said.  Through the newly

The ratio of the total market capitalization of listed firms on the benchmark Kospi to the nation’s gross domestic product hit an all-time high last year amid a retail stock fad, according to the Korea Exchange on Friday.  The Kospi market cap amounted to 1,980.5 trillion won ($1.82 trillion) as of Wednesday, the last trading day of 2020, hitting 104.2 percent of the year’s estimated nominal GDP of 1,900 trillion won, it said. The size of the stock market compared to the rea

South Korea's exports decreased 5.4 percent in 2020 from the previous year amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Friday, but the decline was partially cushioned by the latest recovery in the outbound shipments of chips.  Outbound shipments came to $512.8 billion last year, and imports moved down 7.2 percent on-year to $467.2 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $45.6 billion in 2020, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It marked the

Despite vaccine hopes, experts say Korea’s economy faces some permanent damage from the pandemic

South Korea‘s consumer price inflation hovered below 1 percent this year for the second consecutive year, data showed Thursday. According to data by Statistics Korea, the consumer price index stood at 105.42 in 2020, up 0.5 percent from a year earlier. In 2019, the index rose 0.4 percent. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, grew 0.4 percent in 2020, the lowest since a 0.2 percent fall in 1999. It marks the first time annual inflation has stayed below 1 percent

South Korea's central bank will pay more attention to jobs in its monetary policy next year, Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the labor market. The BOK will "take into consideration the employment situation as an important factor of decisions in guiding monetary policy," Lee said in his New Year's address. Lee's remarks came amid growing calls for the BOK to have legal responsibility for the job market's stability in an econo

South Korean insurance companies saw their financial health improve in the third quarter as more profits and share price gains bolstered capital, data showed Thursday. The risk-based capital (RBC) ratio of local insurance firms stood at 283.9 percent at end-September, up 7.5 percentage points from three months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their RBC ratio rose for the second consecutive quarter in the July-September period on the back of greater e

South Korea's consumer prices grew less than 1 percent for the third straight month in December, data showed Thursday, indicating low inflationary pressure in Asia's fourth-largest economy amid the new coronavirus outbreak. For the whole year, the annual inflation rose by less than 1 percent for the second consecutive year for the first time due largely to the fallout of the pandemic. The consumer price index rose 0.5 percent on-year in December, slowing from a 0.6 percent on-year gain the pre

S. Korea’s main bourse records second-highest gains from yearly low among G20 peers