South Korean stocks closed lower Thursday on investors' profit-taking amid mixed economic signals. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 18.12 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 2,183.76. Trading volume was high at about 775 million shares worth some 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 435 to 403. Foreigners sold a net 13 billion won, ending a three-day buying streak, with institutions offloadin

In a largely anticipated move, South Korea’s central bank on Thursday decided to hold its policy rate at a record-low of 0.5 percent while casting bleaker projections for this year’s gross domestic product growth rate. The Bank of Korea’s seven-member monetary policy board unanimously voted to keep the rate frozen at the rate they had slashed by 25 basis points in May to minimize economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The decision in May came two months after the boa

Amid COVID-19 fears, luxury brands in Korea enjoy high demand from consumers looking to ‘reward’ themselves in pandemic times

The chief of an association representing 440 brokerages and asset management firms in South Korea apologized Thursday for a series of hedge fund fiascos and vowed to strengthen voluntary monitoring of the market. “We will concentrate on our capability to rebuild trust and carry out sustainable innovative tasks,” said Korea Financial Investment Association Chairman Na Jae-chul. “We think now is the time for the market players to open their eyes. To help them make a new leap f

South Korea’s financial regulator on Thursday held a joint working group meeting to discuss measures to nurture financial services based on artificial intelligence technologies, in preparation for new waves of digital transformation in the sector.  Hosted by the Financial Services Commission, the meeting was attended by traditional local lenders, fintech firms and leading AI programming companies.  Its main agenda was to seek ways to improve the current regulations that hampe

Electronic payment service provider Kakao Pay said Thursday it aims to expand its service to enable bills to be created, delivered and paid online to spearhead Korea’s aim to transform into a paperless society. Capitalizing on the group’s popular mobile messenger platform KakaoTalk, Kakao Pay is likely to dominate the e-bills market by inviting more e-bill distributors to its platform, Lee Seung-hyo, chief product officer of Kakao Pay, said in a seminar held in Seoul. “At th

The following is the full text of the Bank of Korea's statement on its monetary policy decision. The central bank's monetary policy board voted Thursday to keep the base interest rate steady at 0.5 percent. Monetary Policy Decision The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea decided today to leave the Base Rate unchanged at 0.50% for the intermeeting period. Currently available information suggests that the global economy has started to rebound moderately from the sharp contraction, as e

South Korea said Thursday it will spend 73.4 trillion won ($60 billion) in the energy segment in line with its ambitious "New Deal" plan meant to transform the nation's fossil fuel-reliant economy into an eco-friendly one. The projects could create around 659,000 jobs and help the country overcome the COVID-19 crisis and prepare for the post-coronavirus era to be led by the fourth industrial revolution, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea is reeling

As widely expected, the Bank of Korea (BOK) kept the policy rate frozen at 0.5 percent Thursday to gauge the impact of previous rate cuts but warned that Asia's fourth-largest economy would contract at a sharper-than-expected clip amid the prolonged pandemic-caused slump. The BOK decision to stand pat follows two rate reductions. The central bank sent the policy rate to the record low level on May 28, about two months after it delivered its first emergency rate reduction in over a decade, slas

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Thursday amid rising Sino-American tensions and recovery hopes of the pandemic-hit global economy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 2.13 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,199.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investors walked a tight rope between signs of a global economic recovery and the rising political friction between the world's two largest economies. US industrial production in June jumped 5.4 percent from a month a

SEJONG -- In the six months after the new coronavirus was first reported in South Korea, the virus outbreak has battered the nation's exports and depressed local consumption, with health experts warning that the highly contagious disease may not disappear in the coming months. The pandemic has brought the global economy to a temporary standstill, dealing a severe blow to the nation's export-reliant economy. New waves of infections around the world are expected to delay the pace of recovery.

South Korea's imports of energy products nearly halved in April due mainly to the falling global price of crude oil amid the new coronavirus pandemic, which has suspended business activities around the globe, data showed Thursday. The country's imports of energy reached $6.47 billion last month, down 41.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Energy Economics Institute. Due to the sharp decrease in demand, energy-related products accounted for only 17.1 per

Reeling under the prolonged impact of the COVID-19 fallout, South Korea shed over 350,000 jobs in June, marking the fourth consecutive monthly fall in employment for the first time since the global financial crisis, government data showed Wednesday. The number of people unemployed and the unemployment rate hit record highs, weighed down by the massive contraction in service sectors. According to the monthly employment trend compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of employed people across

The South Korean benchmark stock index finished above the 2,200-level for the first time in nearly five months on Wednesday, largely on hopes for a coronavirus vaccine and economic recovery. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 18.27 points, or 0.84 percent, to close at 2,201.88. The index surpassed 2,200 for the first time since 2,210.34 on Feb. 19. Trading volume was high at about 811 million shares worth some 13.4 trillion won ($11.

Responding to growing trade and investment volume between South Korea and Africa, the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea has signed a sublease contract worth $100 million with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank via a videoconference, officials said Wednesday.  Launched in 1985, the TDB, a multilateral, treaty-based development financial institution, is aimed at financing local businesses as well as trade activities in the African regions. It has 22 member coun