Pharmaceutical and biotech firms traded on South Korea's secondary KOSDAQ market have seen their combined value top 20 percent of the total market capitalization for the first time on jumps in big-cap prices, data showed Wednesday.According to the data from the Korea Exchange, the combined market value of 73 KOSDAQ-listed pharmaceutical and biotech companies stood at 59.2 trillion won as of Monday, accounting for 21.5 percent of the total market cap. The percentage, which came to 17.3 percent at

South Korean game makers have contributed greatly to the recent boom of the country's secondary stock market as their stock prices are on an upswing on hopes of rising earnings, industry sources said Wednesday.Driven mainly by strong earnings momentum, the tech-laden KOSDAQ market has been recently on a roll with its benchmark price index flirting with the 800-point level. It closed 0.52 percent up at a new all-time high of 789.38 on Tuesday.According to the Korea Exchange, Pearl Abyss finished

Ahead of the free trade deal revision talks with the United States, Korea’s trade minister vowed on Tuesday not to take a step back in the looming farm sector renegotiation deal.“(The government) is now taking a strong stand on agriculture sector, and will not retreat any further,” Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy told reporters Tuesday in the administrative city of Sejong.This echoed Korea‘s trade negotiator Kim Hyun-chong’s remark in October tha

South Korea continues to struggle with its high youth unemployment rate, with the number of employed Korean youths hitting a record low last month and the number of senior citizens in Korea continuing to climb, according to data from Statistics Korea on Tuesday. 　The number of employed Koreans aged 15 to 29 stood at 3.93 million in October, 52,000 lower compared to the same month last year. The employment figure also represents an all-time low percentage of 14.6 percent of Korea’s total em

The number of jobs offered by local businesses in South Korea edged up last year from a year earlier amid a protracted economic slump, government data showed Tuesday.There were a total of 23.23 million jobs as of December 2016, up 0.9 percent, or 220,000, from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.Some 3.61 million jobs were newly created last year, while 3.39 million position were lost. Incorporated companies offered 11.14 million jobs, or 48 percent of the total, o

The opening of South Korea's foreign exchange market will be delayed by one hour on the day of the college entrance exam this week, the committee in charge of the foreign exchange market said Tuesday.The foreign exchange market is set to open at 10 a.m. and close at 3:30 p.m. Thursday as part of efforts to ease traffic, according to the Seoul Foreign Exchange Market Committee.The committee also delayed the opening of the foreign exchange market by one hour last Thursday due to the college entran

An extended period of slow growth and steady increase in household debt could spark an economic crisis in South Korea, which suffered a financial crisis two decades ago, economists said Tuesday.Seven out of 10 economists stated they believe the country could face an economic crisis within the next five years if low growth persists and household debt continues to rise, the Korea Economic Research Institute said in a statement. In a seminar arranged by KERI on Tuesday, economists such as former fi

South Korea's youth employment hit a record low in October due to demographic changes and their difficulty finding jobs, government data showed Tuesday.The number of employed South Koreans aged 15-29 stood at 3.93 million last month, down 52,000 from a year earlier and marked the fifth consecutive month of decline, according to the data from Statistics Korea.The figure accounted for 14.6 percent of the country's total employed people at 26.86 million, which was an all-time low percentage.The por

Tax write-offs for education costs intended to help low-income families are helping the rich more, data showed Tuesday.An analysis provided by the National Assembly's finance committee said tax exemptions in the education category this year are to reach 1.18 trillion won ($1.07 billion) and increase to 1.32 trillion won next year. The amount has been growing annually, from 1.08 trillion won in 2014 to 1.15 trillion won in 2015 and 1.16 trillion won last year.Households are given a number of tax

South Korean banks saw their short-term time deposits jump more than 10 percent on-quarter in the third quarter amid expectations of interest rate hikes down the road, central bank data showed Tuesday.The outstanding balance of short-term time deposits at local lenders came to 221.6 trillion won ($202 billion) as of the end of September, up 19.4 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.It was up 10.1 percent from the second quarter, the largest quarter

The Korean won will remain strong against the US dollar next year, hitting its peak in the third quarter, a local economic think tank said in its report Tuesday.The Hana Institute of Finance predicted that the won will reach 1,130 won per dollar in the last quarter of this year and rise to 1,115 won in the first quarter next year. It will climb more to 1,095 won in the second quarter before ending the third quarter at 1,080 won, according to the institute. The fourth quarter next year will see t

South Korean credit card firms saw their card loans pick up in the third quarter from a slight decline three months earlier, industry data showed Tuesday.The country's six stand-alone card firms -- Shinhan, KB, Woori, Hana, Samsung and Lotte -- extended 9.4 trillion won ($8.6 billion) in combined card loans in the July-September period, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier.The figure marks a turnaround from a slight fall in the previous quarter. Card loans edged down 0.4 percent on-year in the Apr

KB Financial Group on Monday separated the group chairman post and its flagship bank president role for the first time in three years, signaling its new business momentum as the nation’s top-tier banking group, officials said.The group’s shareholders’ meeting confirmed through an extraordinary meeting that incumbent Chairman and bank chief Yoon Jong-kyoo is to serve for another three-year term, this time as the group’s chairman only. The Kookmin Bank president post is to

South Korea‘s second-tier Kosdaq market hit a 10-year high in its closing mark Monday, riding on a biopharma boom.Kosdaq closed at 785.32 Monday, up 1.22 percent from the previous session Friday. The index jumped by 16.7 percent for the month.The closing mark was the highest in over a decade since Kosdaq, designed in its birth to benchmark US’ tech-heavy Nasdaq, closed at 794.08 on Nov. 7, 2007.A combined market cap of Kosdaq hit an all-time high at 275.5 trillion won ($250.6 billion

The state tax agency has been allegedly involved in a number of abuse of power cases for political purposes in the previous conservative governments, a panel said Monday.A task force assigned to carry out sweeping reform of the National Tax Service has looked into 60 cases which were suspected of being politically motivated by the tax office. The task force was launched three months after liberal President Moon Jae-in took office in May and has 19 members, including NTS officials, professors and