South Korean shares rose more than 1 percent Tuesday as investors went bargain hunting, after COVID-19 fears led to the sharpest fall in 16 months in the previous session. The benchmark Kospi opened slightly low at 2,075.55 -- down 3.49 points, or 0.17 percent, from the previous session. The index fluctuated between losses and gains in the early morning, then moved upward throughout the day to close at 2,103.61. Institutional and individual investors scooped up undervalued shares, with net pu

Anxiety is mounting that South Korea, reeling under the prolonged impact of the fast-spreading novel coronavirus, may have no choice but to lower its already modest growth prospects for 2020. While speculations burgeoned that the central bank may cut its outlook by 0.2 percentage point to 2.1 percent, several global investing institutions set their estimation in the 1 percent range, some going as low as the zero percent range. The Bank of Korea’s upcoming Monetary Policy Board, slated

Kakao Bank, an online-only bank in South Korea, said Tuesday that stock trading services of brokerage firm NH Investment & Securities are now available on its mobile application. Since users’ personal data is already registered on the online bank’s mobile platform, Kakao Bank users can open a securities account on the mobile banking platform more easily than with other services via stock traders’ home trading systems or brick-and-mortar branches, according the banking f

As the number of coronavirus cases continued to surge in Korea on Tuesday, all major banks here launched emergency response plans to protect their core networks. Commercial banks -- including Woori, Hana, KB Kookmin and Shinhan -- have temporarily shut down around a combined 20 brick-and-mortar branches across the nation, as of Tuesday afternoon. They have been following basic quarantine procedures, such as ordering employees at branches that came in contact with coronavirus patients into se

Big Hit Entertainment, the South Korean entertainment management agency behind K-pop sensation BTS, has selected underwriters for its initial public offering in the country’s stock market. Lead underwriters include NH Investment & Securities, Korea Investment & Securities and JP Morgan, while Mirae Asset Daewoo will also participate in the process. An IPO underwriter is responsible for offering privately held or newly issued stocks to public investors, while protecting investors

Activist private equity firm Korea Corporate Governance Improvement on Tuesday objected to Delta Air Lines decision to hike its stake in Hanjin KAL -- holding firm of Korean Air -- amid the escalating proxy battle that will determine the fate of its owner family. Its disapproval comes amid reports that the US carrier might act as a “white knight” to vote in favor of the Hanjin Group’s controlling family, given its ongoing partnership with Korean Air through a joint venture. K

South Korea said Tuesday it will spend 380 billion won ($311 million) to support local exporters of agricultural goods amid fears the global spread of the new coronavirus will deal a heavy blow to sales this year. "The spread of the COVID-19 virus has led to a slump in demand (for agricultural goods) from China, Hong Kong and Singapore," the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. The virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed more

South Korea's electricity generation fell for the first time in more than two decades in 2019 amid an economic slowdown and favorable weather conditions, data showed Tuesday. The amount of electricity generated by the nation's power plants came to 562,239 gigawatt hours last year, down 1.5 percent from the prior year, according to the data from state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation. It was the first on-year drop since the 4.1 percent decrease in 1998, when South Korea was in the heat of

Gold prices soar for sixth consecutive session as investors eye low-risk assets

South Korean venture capital firm Company K Partners said Monday it has launched a 124 billion won ($101.7 million) vehicle that targets startups at the later stage of growth, bringing its assets under management to over 560 billion won. The vehicle, dubbed Company K High Growth Fund, is backed by major institutional investors including Korea Teachers’ Credit Union and Korea Scientists & Engineers Mutual-aid Association; state-owned risk capital firm K-Growth, as well as Company K&rs

State-run Korea Land & Housing said Monday it plans to place a series of housing and land development project orders worth 20.5 trillion won ($16.8 billion) across the peninsula this year, in order to prop up the nation’s shrinking economy hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. The amount is double that of the previous year. Of the total, 34 percent of the total budget will be spent within the first half of this year, in a bid to address the economic downturn as Korea struggles to contain the

The government said Monday it would soon announce “special actions” to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, defining the current situation as an “economic emergency.” It added that it would take necessary measures in case of increased volatility in the currency market while maintaining a wait-and-see approach. “Under the awareness that the current circumstances correspond to an economic emergency, the government will respond in a swift,

South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday that it has launched a squad with investigative powers to effectively crack down on illegal or unfair practices in the real estate market. According to the ministry, the “special judicial police” will probe long-existing issues such as real estate contract frauds and illegal transfer of bank accounts that gives its holders unfair priority. It will also look into new issues including unregistered brokerin

Troubled hedge fund Lime Asset Management on Monday confirmed total investor losses of 634.1 billion won ($520.3 million) from 173 feeder funds, which were injected in two of its master funds, Pluto FI D-1 and Tethys 2. The company said the estimate is based on the combined subscription amount of the feeder funds -- investor’s money that initially went to the funds -- at 1.6 trillion won minus their current net asset value. The estimate came as Lime Asset wrapped up the revision of the v

South Korean real estate investment firm JR Asset Management (JR AMC) said Monday that it had obtained government approval for the initial public offering of its real estate investment trust, which invests in Belgium’s second-tallest skyscraper. The REIT, called JR Global, is hoping to carry out the nation’s first listing of a cross-border REIT. The Land Ministry authorized JR Global to embark on the IPO process and submit a prospectus. Under the Korean rules, a REIT listing does n