South Korea's finance ministry said Sunday it has selected 11 banks, including five foreign banks, as the lenders responsible for setting prices for direct won-yuan transactions next year.The banks will be also tasked with taking the lead in providing liquidity to the market, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. The six South Korean banks are KB Kookmin bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Korea Development Bank. And the five local

South Korea's exports are widely expected to extend its slump to a 13th month in December, but its declining pace may slow down, on the back of a rebound in global chip prices amid progress in a trade deal between the United States and China, a poll showed Sunday.The country's exports are estimated to reach $45.9 billion this month, down 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the poll conducted on seven local financial organizations by Yonhap Infomax, the financial information service arm

South Korea's consumer prices are again expected to fall short of the target this month, mainly due to a fall in prices of agricultural products, a poll showed Sunday.In a recent survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, seven local analysts predicted the country's consumer prices to grow 0.59 percent from a year earlier in December. In November, inflation gained 0.2 percent on-year.December would mark the 12th consecutive month the country's consumer prices have gr

South Korean stocks are predicted to stay mostly flat next week as investors are expected to sit on the sidelines amid the possibility of a provocation by North Korea, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,204.21 points on Friday, little changed from the previous week.Earlier in the week, the market closed lower as investors took a breather and cashed in recent gains after the market hit an almost eight-month high on Friday, buoyed

South Korea’s central bank said Friday that it plans to keep its monetary easing stance next year in a bid to support economic recovery. “We plan to maintain a monetary easing stance to support recovery in economic growth and stabilize inflation at the target level of 2 percent,” the Bank of Korea said in its report outlining the direction of its monetary policy for 2020.  “We expect South Korea’s economic growth rate to fall short of the potential growth rate

South Korean shares opened lower Friday as investors cashed in recent profits ahead of the final trading session of 2019 slated for next week. But major tech stocks continued to build up gains.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 13.41 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,184.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading. In South Korea, investors should buy stocks one day before the last trading day of the year to receive dividends. The final trading session of 2019 is Monday.US stocks continu

South Korea's consumer sentiment slightly deteriorated from a month earlier in December but remained positive for a second consecutive month, central bank data showed Friday.The composite consumer sentiment index came to 100.4 in the month, compared with 100.9 in November, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists. The index remained above 100 for a second-straight month after breaching the benchmark for the first time in the seven mont

The Bank of Korea will maintain an accommodative monetary policy next year to help boost the country's economic growth and spur record-low inflation in Asia's fourth-largest economy, while also considering other means to assist the local economy, the central bank said Friday."Under the direction of its monetary policy in 2020, the Bank of Korea will maintain the easing stance of its monetary policy to support the recovery in growth and to ensure the rise in consumer prices will be stabilize

South Korea’s commercial lender KB Kookmin Bank said Thursday its board has agreed to acquire a 70 percent stake in Cambodia’s lender Prasac Microfinance Institution for $603.4 million from Sri Lanka-based nonbanking lender LOLC Holdings.Prasac Microfinance is the No. 1 microfinance deposit-taking institution, taking up over 40 percent of market share in Cambodia with 177 branches.KB Kookmin will close the deal within three months, after a due diligence and approval from financial au

South Korea’s monetary authorities on Thursday reiterated their warning against increasing household debt especially for the elderly as the heated real estate market continues to attract liquidity.According to a report released by the Bank of Korea, the outstanding household debt, including credit spending, came to 1,572.7 trillion won ($1.35 trillion) as of end-September. The figure, which has gained 3.9 percent on-year, marks the lowest growth since the second quarter of 2004, when the h

The number of private money lenders in South Korea edged down 0.2 percent in the first half of the year from six months earlier, data showed Thursday. The number of registered private money lenders and brokers reached 8,294 as of the end of June this year, down 16 from six months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.The total amount of outstanding loans by private lenders was 16.7 trillion won ($14.3 billion) at the end of June, down from 17.3 trillion won six mo

NH Investment & Securities, the country’s second-largest securities firm by net assets, launched a hedge fund company as its own subsidiary, the company said Thursday.NH Hedge Asset Management will be led by CEO Lee Dong-hoon, the former head of the hedge fund division at NH Investment & Securities.In August 2016, the securities firm launched the hedge fund division and has operated the NH Absolute Return Fund worth 700 billion won ($603 million) and NH Pre-IPO Mezzanine Fund worth

South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq is expected to enjoy the “January effect” in 2020, as it has historically performed strongest in the first month of the year, analysts said Monday. According to stock market operator Korea Exchange, the increase rate of Kosdaq’s index in January has been seven times that of the main bourse Kospi since 2010. In January 2018, the Kosdaq index surged 14.42 percent, while Kospi increased 4.01 percent on-year. In January 2014, Kosdaq rose

SEJONG -- Data provided by a state-funded agency showed that the volume of unemployment benefits paid to the jobless has sharply increased over the past two years.The figures, from the Korea Employment Information Service, suggest that the economic slowdown is forcing more and more people to leave their workplaces or close their businesses.South Korea saw monthly payouts of unemployment benefits reach 704.4 billion won ($605.1 million) in October 2019, compared with 388.8 billion won in October

South Korean companies are increasingly becoming key players of mergers and acquisitions in the global game industry, in pursuit of fresh revenue sources and growth engines, data showed on Thursday.From 2013 to 2018, Korea ranked No. 4 in global M&A transactions in the industry, according to Samjong KPMG in its report titled “Global M&A Trends in Game Industry.”  Of the total 528 deals globally, Korean entities proposed, signed and closed a combined 45 deals, followed by