Suspended hiring amid COVID-19 fear signals economy close to recession

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will deliver an additional $2 billion to local banks this week in its third injection of US banknotes under a bilateral currency swap arrangement with the US Federal Reserve aimed at preventing a foreign exchange liquidity crunch here, the bank said Tuesday. The BOK held an online auction to provide up to $4 billion in seven-day debt and 84-day loans. Bids undershot the BOK target of $3.5 billion in 84-day loans and $500 million in seven-day loans. Successful bidders

South Korea's domestic stock investment funds are enjoying a recovery in their returns on a recent market rebound, data showed Tuesday. Domestic equity funds with a net asset value of 1 billion won ($821,000) or more yielded an average 7.59 percent in the week ending Monday, according to the data from market tracker FnGuide. The number outperformed an average 5.5 percent return for overseas stock investment funds and 0.22 percent for local bond funds over the cited period. The average yield

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a revised ordinance on advance payments in state contracts to help companies damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. Under the revised ordinance, the government will be allowed to make up to 80 percent of a total contract sum in an advance payment from late this month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. Currently, the government is allowed to make up to 70 percent of a total contract sum in an advance payment, officials said.

A growing number of homeowners, including those with multiple houses, in some of South Korea’s major cities have given houses to family members instead of selling them to avoid hefty holding taxes, data showed Monday. The number of houses traded among family members in Daegu has more than doubled on-month from 254 in January to 632 in February, according to data compiled by the Korea Appraisal Board, a government agency that evaluates property values. The figure for Gwangju also increas

South Korean shares opened higher Tuesday as the country witnessed a daily number of new coronavirus cases below 30. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 15.28 points, or 0.84 percent, to 1,841.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The country repoted 25 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the nation's total infections to 10,537. Most large-cap stocks rose across the board. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.31 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix was

Investors in two funds of Lime Asset Management, a South Korean hedge fund that fell from grace on a deluge of scandals, are expected to lose over half of their money, according to redemption plans issued Monday. Investments in two master funds -- Pluto FI D-1, dedicated to privately placed bonds, and Tethys II, which targeted mezzanine instruments – were frozen due to illiquidity last year. Their total value will fall to a combined 534.7 billion won ($439.18 million) according to the pl

South Korea’s exports have fallen by more than 18 percent so far this month, government data showed Monday. Weighing further on the country’s export front is the fast-spreading pandemic in developed economies, as well as the gloomy outlook for the semiconductor market throughout the year. Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw the value of its exports stand at $12.21 billion this month as of last Friday, down 18.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Servic

Foreigners sold a net 13.45 trillion won ($11.04 billion) worth of local shares last month, far outpacing the previous record high, data showed Monday. The March tally beats the previous largest number in August 2007 of 9 trillion won, and is about four times higher than the January figure of 3.23 trillion won, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. By country, investors from the United States dumped the most at a net 5.5 trillion won, followed by British investors who offloaded a n

Coworking space giant WeWork said Monday that it has appointed Chun Chung-joo (Patricia) as the new general manager of its South Korean office. Chun has 20 years of experience at global and Korean companies under her belt. Most recently, she served as chief strategy officer of food delivery firm Delivery Hero Korea, leading development of business strategies and proceeding with investments and merger and acquisition deals. She was also responsible for managing government relations, corpora

South Korean stocks closed 1.88 percent lower Monday as investors were concerned about the spiraling number of COVID-19 infections in major economies despite signs of a slowdown locally, analysts said. The Korean won sharply fell against the greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) decreased 34.94 points to close at 1,825.76. Trading volume was high at 1 billion shares worth 9.4 trillion won ($7.73 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 694 to 180. South Korea detec

State-run policy lender Korea Development Bank is in talks with South Korea’s private equity firm JC Partners to sell a life insurer unit as part of its restructuring process, an industry source said Monday. JC Partners is the only bidder participating in the preliminary stage that is undergoing a due diligence for the acquisition, the source added. KDB said further details cannot be disclosed because the talks are ongoing with the potential buyer before signing a deal. “Regardi

Seoul-based global startup accelerator SparkLabs said Monday it has joined hands with nonbanking lender Shinhan Capital to create a 10.1 billion won ($8.28 million) fund to support early-stage startups. The vehicle is aimed at investing in SparkLabs alumni and other early-stage startups with growth potential, as well as secondary investing in fast-growing companies in the fields of health care, biotechnology and manufacturing. The fund is co-managed by SparkLabs and Shinhan Capital, and

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans edged up in February from a month earlier, data showed Monday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.43 percent at the end of February, up 0.02 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). But compared with a year ago, the rate was down 0.09 percentage point, it said. The delinquency rate for loans extended to companies increased 0.04 percent

South Korea's state bond sales reached a new high in the first quarter of the year due to more fiscal spending to cushion the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak, data showed Monday. The government issued 62.4 trillion won ($51.5 billion) in state bonds and Treasurys in the January-March period, up 29.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. The tally is up a whopping 156 percent from the previous quarter and marks