South Korean shares extended their winning streak to a third session Tuesday, as progress in negotiations for a new US fiscal stimulus plan boosted investor appetite for risky assets. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 19.81 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 2,327.89. Trading volume was moderate at about 626 million shares worth some 8.9 trillion won ($7.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 667 to 192. Foreigners

Chemical-to-financial conglomerate KG Group said Tuesday that it would take over a 93.8 percent stake in Hollys F&B from investment firm IMM Private Equity. Hollys F&B owns Hollys Coffee, one of the largest coffee franchises in South Korea. With the acquisition deal, KG Group will own slightly more than 1.65 million shares, worth 145 billion won ($124 million), of the coffee chain operator. Founded in 1998, Hollys Coffee currently runs 560 stores across the nation with its sales last

Yanolja, the largest accommodation and leisure activity booking platform operator in South Korea, is taking steps toward an initial public offering, according to news reports Tuesday. The accommodation booking services firm is a local startup unicorn with a market value exceeding 1 trillion won ($855 million). The Seoul-based firm is widely expected to go public, along with game producer and unicorn Krafton, among many others. In light of the momentum created in the local market by recent IPOs,

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker, said Tuesday it will buy back 221 billion won ($189 million) worth of its stocks in the fourth quarter to enhance shareholder value. Hyundai Mobis plans to buy back 983,000 stocks from Oct. 5 through Dec. 28 to stabilize the stock prices and improve shareholder value, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company said it will cancel 62.5 billion worth of stocks out of the 983,000 shares to be bought and ho

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Tuesday that its shipbuilding unit Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. secured a 420 billion won ($359 million) deal to build four crude carriers. Under the deal with companies from Europe and Oceania, Hyundai Heavy will complete the construction of the 300,000-ton very large crude carriers by the first half of 2022, Korea Shipbuilding said. The names of the buyers were not revealed. With the latest orders, Korea Shipbuilding has so far won ord

SEJONG -- South Korean households have been taking out an increasing amount of loans to invest in the real estate or capital market over the past few years. This has been in line with a fever for mortgages or credit-based loans amid low benchmark interest rate, which has stayed under 2 percent per annum for more than five years, and is currently at an all-time low of 0.5 percent. According to the Bank of Korea, outstanding household debt - the total of financial loans and credit-based payment

South Korea's industrial output fell in August for the first time in three months, but consumption increased amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday.   The nation's overall industrial production declined 0.9 percent on-month in August, following a 0.1 percent on-month gain in July, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.   Compared with a year earlier, overall industrial production plunged 3.4 percent in August.   Retail sales rose 3 percent f

Policy lender Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-gull said Monday that he is closely reviewing SsangYong Motor‘s fate as a sustainable automaker while refraining from mentioning its plan to provide financial assistance to the cash-strapped company. The focal point of SsangYong Motor must be “sustainability of business operations,” along with the shareholder‘s responsible actions and burden-sharing of all parties concerned, such as shareholders, the company and the

Women receiving benefits outnumber men 　

South Korean stocks advanced more than 1 percent Monday, buoyed by stock rallies in the United States and a bargain hunting rush here. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 29.29 points, or 1.29 percent, to close at 2,308.08. Trading volume was moderate at about 598 million shares worth some 8.8 trillion won ($7.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 750 to 123. Foreigners sold a net 64 billion won, with retail investors

The offering price of shares of Big Hit Entertainement, the local agency behind K-pop sensation BTS, was fixed at 135,000 won ($115) per share, the top end of its indicative price range, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday. At the two-day book building that wrapped up on Friday, a total of 1,420 domestic and foreign institutional investors participated in the tranche and bidding for some 4.27 million shares, 60 percent of the total. Competition among institutional investors for stoc

A planned 20 trillion-won ($16.8 billion) fund tied to Korean New Deal projects would funnel money into 197 items under 40 different green and digital areas, South Korea’s finance minister said Monday. The fund -- which will be financed over the next five years -- will be established “early next year” and invest in areas including 5G, artificial intelligence, smart health care, renewable energy, robot technology and hydrogen vehicles, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Ministe

After the successful market debut of its online games unit earlier this month, Korean mobile messenger giant Kakao is gearing up for another initial public offering next year, this time with its payment services unit, industry sources said Monday. Kakao Pay is set for an IPO during the first half of next year, the company said, adding that it had recently chosen local brokerage firm KB Securities as its leading underwriter. The company plans to apply for approval from the Financial Supervisory

Stocks of biotechnology firm Celltrion and its subsidiaries -- Celltrion Healthcare and Celltrion Pharm -- often called the “Celltrion trio,” were mixed Monday over a merger plan announced late last week. Celltrion Pharm, which runs sales operations for chemical and biosimilar drugs produced by Celltrion, saw its stock soar 19.55 percent to 123,500 won ($105.20) in the morning trading session, while Celltrion Healthcare’s stock jumped 8.32 percent to 95,000 won in intraday t

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Monday it has partnered with Toss -- a financial services app operated by Viva Republica -- to launch a short-term lending program on Wednesday.  Under the partnership, SC Bank Korea outsources credit evaluation process to Toss. SC Bank Korea is the first lender operating here to outsource credit evaluation of customers to a fintech company. SC Bank Korea receives application for the program via Toss’ mobile app and requests the fintech company t