Facility investments by listed companies showed signs of recovery in the first quarter this year, increasing 25.9 percent from the same period last year, a tally from the Korea Exchange on Sunday showed.Total facility investments by firms on the main and secondary bourses were logged at 1.308 trillion won ($1.158 billion) during the three months, up from 1.039 trillion won for the same months a year ago. The number of companies that increased their investments also rose from 19 last year to 30.T

Despite the record-setting bull run on South Korea’s main bourse, 4 out of 10 stocks there fell, data from the Korea Exchange showed Sunday.The KRX said 302 stocks out of 750 listed on the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell as of Thursday compared to Dec. 29, accounting for 40.3 percent. The Kospi rose 13.32 percent over the cited period, from 2,026.46 to 2,296.37. As for the listed firms of both the first-tier and second-tier stock markets, 890 stocks out of 1,973, accountin

US businesses based in South Korea said Sunday they will send a delegation to the White House this month to promote the benefits of the free trade agreement between Seoul and Washington as the Donald Trump administration is reviewing the five-year deal for a possible renegotiation. The delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea will visit Washington from Monday to Thursday and meet high-ranking officials at the White House.  The visit came as US President Donald Trump has been

The rate of South Korean women either working or actively searching for jobs reached a record high in 2017, data showed Saturday, thanks to a rising number of married women returned to the job market.According to the data compiled by the Statistics Korea, 53 percent of women were found to be economically active this year, up 0.8 percentage points from a year earlier.This year's number is the highest since the agency started compiling data from June 1999. The figure refers to the portion of econo

Korea Investment Corp., South Korea's sovereign wealth fund, said Friday it posted $4 billion in investment gains last year. The sovereign fund -- which handles $110.8 billion in assets under management -- reported a return ratio of 4.35 percent from its investments in overseas stocks and bonds for the whole of 2016, the KIC said in a statement.  The fund's accumulated investment gains reached $15.8 billion last year.Last year, equities accounted for 41.2 percent of the KIC's overseas inves

South Korean stocks ended slightly lower Friday on increased selling by foreigners and institutions.The Korean won rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 10.35 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,286.02.Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at KB Securities Co., said foreigners and institutions offloaded stocks in apparent profit-taking, which are to blame for losses on the main bourse.Kim Ye-eun, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, also said foreign sel

South Korea's central bank said Friday it has named an expert on foreign reserves as the new head of its Reserve Management Group.Suh Bong-gook, director general at the International Department of the Bank of Korea, will be in charge of planning, investment and risk management of the country's foreign reserves, according to the BOK. As of the end of April, the country's foreign exchange reserves came to $376.57 billion, up $1.27 billion from the previous month, according to the BOK.Suh worked at

Export-reliant Korea’s overall economic growth in past years has been clouded by a prolonged weakness in global trade, a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific stated earlier this month.While the economies of the Asia Pacific region are expected to achieve a 1.2 percentage point lower economic growth on average this year, uncertainty will be the biggest challenge for South Korea, an expert from a UN panel said Friday.According to Kilaparti Ramakrish

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles delving into the economic policies and tasks expected of the new Moon Jae-in administration. This is the third installment -- Ed.South Korea’s housing market is unlikely to see sharp rises under liberal President Moon Jae-in, who is more focused on market stabilization, real estate experts said Friday.　As opposed to the former Park Geun-hye government’s deregulatory moves, the new Moon Jae-in government is expected to tighten some r

President Moon Jae-in on Friday reaffirmed his pledge to create hundreds of thousands of quality jobs in the public sector, vowing to turn all non-regular job openings in the public sector to regular, full-time employment within his term."I will open an era of zero irregular jobs in the public sector within my term," Moon said in a meeting with workers and citizens at Incheon International Airport Corp., a key public enterprise. The meeting marked the new president's first public event

Earnings made by the National Pension Service through its investments in local stocks have amounted to 13 trillion won ($11.5 billion) this year, with the main bourse Kospi recently hitting highs above the 2,300 level, industry data showed Friday.The appraised value of local stocks held by the nation‘s largest institutional investor rose 13.5 percent from 93.6 trillion won at the end of last year to 106.2 trillion won as of Wednesday, according to financial data tracker FnGuide. The value

South Korean stocks extended losses late Friday morning as foreign investors offloaded large-cap stocks.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.25 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,288.12 as of 11:15 a.m.The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.11 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index declining 0.22 percent.Kim Ye-eun, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said foreign selling of large-cap stocks worth nearly

China has invited South Korea to join a forum on Beijing's regional economic development plan in what appears to be a move to mend the bilateral relationship following the inauguration of new President Moon Jae-in in Seoul, a government official said Friday.The delegation to be led by Rep. Park Byeong-seug of the Democratic Party will leave for Beijing on Saturday to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that will kick off on Sunday for a two-day run, according to the offi

The finance ministry said Friday that it will set aside a supplementary budget to help create jobs, a key campaign pledge of Presidential Moon Jae-in."We will create jobs through aggressive macroeconomic policies, including a supplementary budget," the ministry said in its monthly economy assessment report called the "Green Book." The ministry also vowed to revitalize Asia's fourth-largest economy, which is showing signs of a recovery on increased exports.It marked the first