Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok vowed Thursday to stay vigilant on uncertainties regarding interest rate decisions by major economies and the Middle East crisis and to take bold market stabilization steps when necessary. Choi made the remarks during an emergency macroeconomic meeting meant to assess the Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting Wednesday, where it kept the benchmark interest rate at between 5.25-5.5 percent for a sixth consecutive time. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said interest rat

Nextrade aims to eat into near 70-year KRX monopoly

Trade surplus continues 11-month rally on robust chip, auto sales

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said Wednesday the government will set up a task force in charge of monitoring and resolving issues regarding economic livelihoods of the people. Choi made the remarks during an emergency economic ministers' meeting in Seoul, stressing the government's priority of reviving the economy and boosting consumer sentiment amid weak domestic demand and high inflation. "We will not just be satisfied with decent economic data and will put policy priority on h

Global credit appraiser S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday it has maintained its credit rating on South Korea at "AA," with a stable outlook. S&P has kept South Korea's long-term sovereign credit rating at the third-highest level on the company's table since August 2016, when it upgraded the rating by one notch from "AA-." "The stable rating outlook reflects our expectation that (South) Korea will maintain average growth rates that are higher than most oth

South Korean stocks finished up for a third consecutive session Tuesday backed by a strong earnings performance by top cap Samsung Electronics and overnight US stock gains. The local currency fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 4.62 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,692.06. Trade volume was moderate at 450 million shares worth 11.1 trillion won ($8.03 billion). Winners outpaced losers 439 to 408. Institutions and foreign investors combined bought a net 52

South Korea's tax revenue fell 2.5 percent on-year during the first three months of 2024 due mainly to weak corporate performances, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The government collected 84.9 trillion won ($61.68 billion) in taxes this year through March, down 2.2 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The decline was due mainly to the fall in corporate taxes collected and income taxes. The collection of corporate taxes sank 22.8 percent, or

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday backed by strong earnings performance by top cap Samsung Electronics and overnight US stock gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 7.81 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,665.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, announced earlier in the day its first quarter operating profit shot up more than tenfold from a year ago in the first quarter, with its chip bus

South Korea's industrial output logged the sharpest fall in about four years after four months of monthly gains in March on falling manufacturing production, data showed Tuesday. Retail sales, however, rebounded on rising demand for food and vehicles, among other items, amid concerns about weak domestic demand, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Industrial output declined 2.1 percent in March from a month earlier, the first fall since October, It also marked the sharpest fa

Seoul shares closed over 1 percent higher Monday on advances in battery and chemical shares amid a slump in techs. The local currency slightly fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 31.11 points, or 1.17 percent, to close at 2,687.44. Trade volume was moderate at 461 million shares worth 10.2 trillion won ($7.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 719 to 165. Foreigners remained net buyers for a second consecutive session, scooping up a net 415.9

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (left), who doubles as chair of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Bi Jinquan, executive vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a state think tank, meet in Beijing on Monday to discuss ways to expand economic cooperation between the two countries. This meeting was held to check on the implementation status of the agenda items discussed at the fourth edition of the Korea-China High-Level Economic Dialogue, jointly hosted

The number of South Koreans working multiple jobs surpassed 500,000 in the first quarter of this year, with older people taking up a large proportion of such workers. A total of 552,000 people here had at least one additional job while working full time in the first quarter, according to Statistics Korea data. This marked a 22.4 percent increase compared to the 451,000 tallied in the same period in 2023. While the overwhelming majority of the working population still only has one job, the perc

SK Innovation Co., South Korea's leading refiner by sales, said Monday its net losses widened in the first quarter from a year earlier due mainly to foreign-exchange losses. Net losses deepened to 97.62 billion won ($71 million) in the first quarter from 51.95 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. "A weak won, which drove up import prices of crude oil and decreased equity gains from SK On, weighed on the quarterly bottom line," a company spokesperson

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on large cap gains, tracking advances on Wall Street last week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 13.6 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,669.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The advance follows Wall Street gains last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.4 percent higher Friday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq spiked 2.03 percent. In Seoul, most large caps were in positive terrain. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics went up

South Korean stock markets' trading volume dipped 11 percent in April from a month earlier amid growing uncertainties, including the geopolitical tension stemming from the Middle East, data showed Sunday. The combined daily average trading volume in the main Kospi, tech-heavy KOSDAQ and small businesses-focused KONEX markets, came to 20.2 trillion won ($14.6 billion) in April as of Friday, according to the Korea Exchange, the country's bourse operator. The amount marked an 11 percent d