Moody's Investors Service said Thursday that Hyundai Motor Group's 3.4 trillion-won ($3 billion) quality-related provisions will be credit negative for the South Korean carmaker. In its recent report, Moody's said the sizable provisions for engine recalls and quality management highlights the continued quality-control challenges facing Hyundai and will hit the carmaker's profitability this year. Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. put aside 2.1 trillion won and 1.26 trillion

South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Thursday on tech and auto losses, tracking losses from its US peers amid lingering stimulus uncertainties in the world's largest economy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 23.28 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,347.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Local stocks got off to a weak start on long-stalled stimulus talks in the United States, one of South Korea's largest trade partners. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3

South Korean brokerage houses have upgraded their third-quarter earnings outlook for major listed companies despite the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Thursday. The combined operating income forecast for 173 major listed firms came to 38.2 trillion won ($33.7 billion) for the July-September period as of Wednesday, up 24.1 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. It also represents a 5.5 percent increase from their estimate of 36.1 trillion won made a month earlier. The

Self-employed, young job-seekers take hardest blow from epidemic fallout

South Korea’s biggest institutional investor, the National Pension Service, has forged a partnership with Dutch retirement fund operator APG Asset Management to invest in European and Asian markets, according to the Korean fund operator. APG, which managed assets worth 538 billion euros ($637.4 billion) as of the end of 2019, invests in the private education, construction and energy sectors on behalf of Dutch state-run fund ABP. Before forging the partnership, APG and the NPS jointly in

The prices of small to midsized apartments have increased precipitously in recent years, according to data from the office of Rep. Kim Sang-hoon. The lawmaker’s office received the data from the Korea Appraisal Board. Small to midsized apartments, measuring 40 to 62.8 square meters, have increased in price 65.9 percent, posting 245.2 million won on average, from May 2017 to July this year, the data showed. The lawmaker’s office classified apartments into four categories: Small apa

South Korean stocks extended gains for a third consecutive session Wednesday, as investors held out optimism for progress in the US stimulus talks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.45 points, or 0.53 percent, to close at 2,370.86. Trading volume was moderate at 802 million shares worth some 9.7 trillion won ($8.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 675 to 183. Foreigners bought a net 6.4 billion won, while retai

South Koreans who rent their homes are less likely to get married and have children than those who own their own homes, a private think tank said Wednesday. When people who paid monthly rent were compared with homeowners, the former were 65 percent less likely to tie the knot than the latter, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute, which is under the country’s top business lobby, the Federation of Korean Industries. For people who have “jeonse” apartment leases, t

Phnom Penh Commercial Bank -- the Cambodian subsidiary of JB Financial Group’s flagship lender -- signed a deal with a Thailand-based financial technology firm to provide electronic loan repayment services to customers, the South Korean banking group said Wednesday. PPC Bank’s latest memorandum of understanding with True Money is to allow customers to repay both the principal and interest back to the lender via the fintech firm’s electronic wallet service known as True Money

South Korea’s central bank on Wednesday held a ceremony for the launch of its upgraded large-value interbank fund transfer system, which started operations last week. The Bank of Korea’s real time gross settlement system is the nation’s only system handling transfers of large funds between financial institutions. The system was first launched in 1994 and was upgraded previously in 2009, but the BOK has been building the “next-generation” version since 2015 t

SEJONG -- South Korea will join a move by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help low-income nations recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. Hong made the remarks during a virtual meeting with IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva earlier in the day, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. South Korea also supports an increase in funding for the IMF as demand for loans and grants jumped in the wake of the pandemic, Hong said. E

About 37 percent of firms in South Korea failed to repay the interest on their debts in 2019, central bank data showed Wednesday, highlighting concerns about deteriorating corporate financial status amid economic gloom. The number of so-called marginal or zombie firms is expected to rise further this year as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the nation's economy. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), 36.6 percent of 384,877 firms made less profit than their interest expenses for a third co

Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday it will overhaul its product quality control process following engine recalls and fires in an electric model. Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. plan to simplify the overall quality control process to better focus on resolving problems, a Hyundai official said over the phone. Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world's fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, will also simplify the decision-making process to respond to customers' demands as qu

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, taking a cue from an overnight rise on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 5.42 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,363.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Local stocks got a boost from US peers, despite lingering uncertainties from the ongoing talks for the new US virus relief package. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.33 percent on Tuesday (New York time), with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding

South Korea's producer prices rose for the fourth straight month in September, due largely to increased costs of agricultural, livestock and fishery goods, central bank data showed Wednesday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, inched up 0.1 percent in September from the previous month, slowing from a 0.5 percent on-month gain in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the fourth consecutive month of increase after the price index stayed flat in