Govt seeks to include food delivery apps in dining coupon program amid social distancing

South Korean stocks closed at a fresh all-time high Thursday as the central bank's revised growth forecast boosted investor sentiment, despite an eight-month high in daily virus cases here. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 24.37 points, or 0.94 percent, to close at 2,625.91 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.4 billion shares worth some 12.5 trillion won ($11.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 433 to 3

Central bank holds interest rate steady at record low in a year-end move

Korea Investment Management, a fund operating under Korea Investment Holdings, has launched its first Vietnam leverage exchange-traded fund on South Korea’s main bourse, the Kospi, on expectations of a rally in Vietnamese stocks, the company said Thursday. The KINDEX Vietnam VN30 Futures Leverage (H) ETF tracks VN30 Futures. Launched in 2017, VN30 Futures are the Southeast Asian country’s first tradable stock index futures.　 It uses the Bloomberg VN30 Futures index to provide inves

CU provided details Thursday on plans to allow foreign currency exchange at its convenience stores early next year. BGF Retail, the operator of the convenience store brand, has signed a partnership with a local fintech startup U Fintech Hub, which provides a small overseas remittance service, in a step to launch foreign currency exchange service at its local branches, they said. Under the deal, the retail giant will receive technical support from the fintech firm to develop the service platf

South Korea said Thursday it plans to reduce the operation of some coal-powered plants over the winter in line with efforts to cut the emission of fine dust. Under the plan, the country will halt the operation of from nine to 16 coal-powered plants over the season, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. Other plants will be required to maintain their power output at 80 percent of capacity depending on demand. South Korea first adopted the reduction scheme last year. Throug

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Thursday, taking a cue from overnight losses on Wall Street over disappointing US economic indices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.94 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,600.6 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.58 percent to 29,872.47 points on an increase in weekly US jobless data, weakening hopes for a quick recovery from the pandemic. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.48 percent,

The South Korean central bank on Thursday held its policy rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent, while slightly revising up this year's economic outlook, amid growing concerns over a winter wave of coronavirus infections. As expected, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to leave the base rate steady in this year's final rate-setting meeting. Driven by signs of a modest recovery in exports, the BOK revised up this year's economic growth outlook to 1.1 percent cont

Customs chief says Korean companies can gain competitive edge on global stage via certification

Nonperforming loans at South Korean banks edged down in the third quarter from three months earlier due to a decline in overdue corporate loans, data showed Thursday. Nonperforming loans came to 14.1 trillion won ($12.7 billion) at the end of September, down 900 billion won from the end of June, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Overdue corporate loans reached 12 trillion won at the end of September, compared with 12.8 trillion won from a quarter earlier, the

South Korea's exports are expected to rebound by rising 6.6 percent on-year in November following a brief fall in the previous month, on the back of stronger demand for chips and automobiles, a poll showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments are estimated to reach $46.9 billion this month, according to the poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The survey was conducted on eight local brokerage houses. Imports were estimated at $40.3 billion this month, res

The recent spate of records in South Korea’s stock market on hopes of a global coronavirus containment has brought the market capitalization of the 10 largest business groups’ listed affiliates to fresh highs, data showed Wednesday. As of Monday, the market cap of all 102 listed affiliates of the 10 largest business groups came to 1,069 trillion won ($964.3 billion), topping 1,000 trillion won for the first time in history, according to data from financial market tracker FnGuide.

Household expenditure on alcohol and cigarettes hit a new high in the July-September period, data showed Wednesday, with the “stay-at-home” situation amid the coronavirus pandemic apparently fueling the spending. Monthly spending on tobacco and liquor by local households of two or more people gained 10.7 percent on-year to an average 42,980 won ($38.70), in the three-month period, data compiled by Statistics Korea showed. The figure marks the largest since the government started

South Korean midsized automotive parts maker Myoung Shin Industry said Wednesday it is looking to raise as much as 91.2 billion won ($82.3 million) from its initial public offering on the nation’s benchmark Kospi early next month. “We are looking forward to raise our overseas sales from the current 30 percent to 70 percent to become the No. 1 global green car automotive parts maker,” said Park Bong-kun, president of the company to be listed as Myoung Shin Ind., in a press bri

South Korean stocks ended a five-session winning streak Wednesday after hitting an all-time high the previous session, as investors dumped local stocks to lock in gains. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 16.22 points, or 0.62 percent, to close at 2,601.54. Trading volume was high at about 1.4 billion shares worth some 21.3 trillion won ($19.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 653 to 210. Foreigners sold a net 135