Prices of safe assets, such as gold and bonds, in South Korea are turning bearish, market data showed Wednesday, as investor risk appetite has been revived on hopes of a Sino-US trade deal and other positives.The yellow metal, one of the most common safe assets, finished at 55,140 won ($46.9) per gram on the country's gold exchange Tuesday, according to the data from the Korea Exchange.Tuesday's close was 10 percent lower than the 61,300 won recorded Aug. 13, the highest level since the gold exc

Large South Korean companies' ability to service their debts worsened sharply in the first nine months of this year due to plunging profits, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.The interest coverage ratio for 241 out of the country's top 500 firms averaged 5.08 as of end-September, compared with 10.01 a year ago, according to CEO Score, which tracks financial details of conglomerates.The ratio is obtained by dividing a company's operating profit by its interest expenses. A reading below 1 means t

State-run bank seeks SME expansion in ASEAN state

South Korea's trade terms continued to worsen for the 23rd consecutive month in October with its export prices slipping at a faster rate than those of imports, central bank data showed Tuesday.The terms of trade index for products came to 90.84 last month, down 3.4 percent from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The trade terms index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports. A reading below 100 means import prices

Senior trade officials from South Korea, China and Japan will hold a fresh round of talks this week on forging a free trade deal among the three Asian neighbors, Seoul's trade ministry said Tuesday. Since launching the talks in 2012, the three nations have made little headway toward a deal that, if successful, would create one of the world's largest economic blocs.  This week's talks, the 16th round of negotiations, will be held starting Wednesday for three days in Seoul, according to the M

BUSAN -- Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo said Monday that South Korea had created momentum for the liberalization of regional trade and cooperation through the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit. Speaking to reporters at the summit venue in Busan, Sung said free trade and multilateralism were currently facing challenges, including a trade war between the US and China as well as Japan’s economic restrictions against Korea.  “Amid the ongoing trade friction, it is very meaningful t

Government is ‘relatively’ optimistic despite overwhelmingly dismal signals

Park Young-sun is a veteran female politician who has frequently made the news with her boldness and initiatives. She now serves as minister of small and medium enterprises and startups. Since taking office in March, Minister Park has shown outstanding political power and careful attention to detail. But SMEs increasingly face challenges, such as the advent of the “fourth industrial revolution” and the increased minimum wage. The Korea Herald interviewed Minister Park about possible

Finance minister to emphasize Korean government’s efforts to improve economic vitality through investment, exports

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans edged down in September due to a slight decline in the number of firms that failed to repay their debts, government data showed Monday. The rate for bank loans more than 30-days overdue stood at 0.44 percent at the end of September, down 0.06 percentage point from a month earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Compared with a year ago, the rate was also down 0.1 percentage point, it said.The delinq

South Korean investors have increased their investments in overseas funds in recent weeks, as they seek to escape from heightened stock volatility stemming from global trade issues, data showed Sunday. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, nearly 4,700 overseas funds created and managed by local entities have drawn a combined 177.4 trillion won ($150.4 billion) from investors so far, an increase of 2.5 trillion won from the end of last month.  The combined net worth of th

Sluggish economic growth and a bleak stock market outlook have pushed South Korean securities firms to expand their horizons by turning to real estate investment.While some brokerages prefer to operate teams dedicated to real estate investment trusts, or REITs, others choose to establish subsidiaries, suggesting full-scale portfolio expansion.Yet the trend has some observers worried that the competitive game might result not in market diversification but in an oligopoly among top-tier players.&l

South Korea's economy is expected to grow 2.1 percent next year, after posting an estimated growth of 1.9 percent this year, as the global economy's slowdown is likely to end in the coming months, according to a Goldman Sachs report on Saturday.The US bank's forecast was lower than the 2.2 percent economic growth for this year projected by the Bank of Korea in July."We expect the global growth slowdown that began in early 2018 to end soon, in response to easier financial conditions and an e

South Korean stocks are expected to remain weak next week as the United States and China struggle to reach a deal on their yearlong trade dispute and escalating unrest in Hong Kong poses yet another risk to the local stock market, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,101.96 points on Friday, down 2.7 percent from last week. Earlier this week, South Korean stocks closed lower as investors remained cautious over mixed signals regarding a potent

South Korean investors have lost their faith in financial firms and their products, amid the latest series of investment fiascos here, a survey showed Friday.According to a poll conducted by the Korea Financial Investors Protection Foundation on 1,000 respondents aged from 25 to 69, 10 out of the 12 questions scored below 50 out of 100 points.Scoring the lowest were the financial firms’ duty to inform investors of all possible investment risks beforehand and their liability for advertiseme