Experts recommend investors to keep eyes on growth value, ‘contactless’ biz sectors

South Korean banking groups are set to tighten lending rules for overdraft accounts, lowering borrowing limits amid government efforts to put a brake on the nation’s fast-growing household debt, industry data showed Friday. The five major commercial banks here -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana and NH NongHyup -- have started lowering limits for their key overdraft account products designed for “high-income individuals and professionals” from an average 200 million won ($179,

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is expected to freeze its policy rate at a record low of 0.5 percent next week, as it will likely gauge the impact of the protracted pandemic on the economy, a poll showed Friday. In a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, all 14 analysts polled predicted the BOK will freeze the base rate at its rate-setting meeting next Thursday. They also forecast the BOK to stand pat on the rate during the remainder of the year and even throughout

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday, taking a cue from overnight Wall Street tech gains despite an increase in the new coronavirus cases. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 2.9 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,550.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks started off with a mild gain after the index hit a nearly three-year high the previous session. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.87 percent, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging u

South Korea's producer prices declined for the first time in five months in October, mainly due to falling costs of agricultural, livestock and fishery goods, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, fell 0.5 percent in October from the previous month, slowing from a 0.1 percent on-month gain in September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first monthly decline since June. The index rose on a monthly basis for the l

Top officials of the state-run lender Korea Development Bank said Thursday that the proposed merger of South Korea’s two flag carriers, Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines -- largely orchestrated by the creditor of the two -- may be scrapped if the court grants an injunction grinding the blockbuster deal to a halt. If the injunction is granted, the state lender has no choice but to go back to square one and pursue a plan that could cost it 5.4 trillion won ($4.8 billion) by 2027 to keep

Govt. acknowledges that speculation control is insufficient to solve housing problem

South Korea’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission, is looking to invite a wider range of retail investors to get access to shares offered when a company goes public on the Korean stock market. The key to the new measure is encouraging Korean underwriters of the initial public offering -- eligible for securities brokerage firms -- to allocate at least 10 percent of stocks potentially to any retail participant, regardless of how many bids retail investors place when subsc

First new brokerage approved in 12 years, Viva Republica to benchmark US’ Robinhood

South Korean stocks continued to build up gains Thursday after hitting a nearly three-year high the previous session, as battery makers remained in positive terrain amid concerns of surging COVID-19 cases. The Korean won sharply fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 1.78 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 2,547.42, the highest since Feb. 1, 2018.  Trading volume was moderate at about 961 million shares worth some 12.3 trillion won ($11

Passengers on ‘flights to nowhere’ to receive same tax benefits for duty-free shopping

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Thursday it has decided to relax regulations on five promising services proposed by local companies in continued efforts to spur innovation in the finance sector.  The move is part of the government‘s “regulatory sandbox” policy, which took effect in April last year. Under the regulatory program, the financial authorities suspend legal and regulatory requirements imposed on local financial companies, including both traditio

South Korea's net overseas assets hit an all-time high in the third quarter, mainly due to increased stock investments, central bank data showed Thursday. The nation's external financial assets came to $1.81 trillion at the end of September, up $66 billion from a quarter earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Net international investment position came to $553.1 billion as of the end of September, down $100 million from a year earlier, the data showed. The positio

South Korean savings banks reported 9 percent growth in their combined net profit for the first nine months of this year, supported by a modest rise in interest income, data showed Thursday. The combined net income of the 79 savings banks stood at 1.02 trillion won ($918 million) for the January-September period, compared with a profit of 935.7 billion won a year ago, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 8.9 percent on-year to 4.8 trillio

South Korean households saw their income earned through wages decline for the second straight quarter in the third quarter as the new coronavirus outbreak dealt a blow to the job market, data showed Thursday. The average household earned 5.31 million won ($4,774) per month in the July-September period, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. But hit by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, household income earned through wages declined 1.1 percen