Consumer sentiment had generally improved in April, but it worsened for those under 40, a detailed index from the central bank indicated Wednesday. The Bank of Korea said overall the consumer sentiment index for the month rose to 101.2 from 96.7 in the previous month. A reading above 100 means there are more optimists than pessimists. However, a separate index for the under-40 age group measuring their sentiment on current economic conditions fell 1 percentage point from 94 in March. This contra

South Korea's residential mortgage-backed securitizations slightly rose in the first quarter of this year, but the pace of quarterly growth slowed because of the government's efforts to curb mounting household debt, official data showed Wednesday. State-run Korea Housing Finance Corp. issued 9 trillion won ($8 billion) in mortgage-backed securities during the January-March period, up 300 billion won from the same period a year ago, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement.The s

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday led by gains in tech companies, chemicals firms and automakers.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.91 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,204.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading.On Tuesday, the KOSPI closed at a six-year high, driven by continued foreign buying.Market kingpin Samsung Electronics was 0.09 percent down and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, surged 2.48 percent.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, moved up 0.36 percent, and AmoreP

The number of companies that had their credit ratings upgraded increased by 76.9 percent last year compared to the previous year. Those that had their credit ratings downgraded, meanwhile, dropped by 42.8 percent, the Financial Supervisory Service said Tuesday.But there were still three times as many companies with “negative” outlooks for their credit ratings than with “positive” outlooks.

South Korea's stock market for venture firms and start-ups plans to ease its listing rules, allowing more small firms to raise funds via the market, the nation's financial regulator said Tuesday. The Korea New Exchange (KONEX) market opened in 2013 for fledgling businesses to raise funds easier via stock sales rather than having to borrow from banks. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) decided to ease listing rules for the KONEX market as the average daily transaction value for the market ha

The second annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank  will be held on South Korea's southern island of Jeju in June, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The meeting of the board of governors will held on June 16-18 with the theme "sustainable infrastructure" and more than 10 seminars and discussion sessions, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.   Detailed programs include one-on-one business meetings for networking by people in the infrastruc

South Korean stocks on Tuesday hit a six-year high, on strong buying from foreign investors with the global stock market rally, brokerage data showed.The nation’s benchmark Kospi closed at 2,196.85, rising by 1.06 percent from the previous session. The figure is the highest since the index closed at 2,200.73 on May 3, 2011, according to the Korea Exchange. The tech-heavy Kosdaq also went up 0.95 percent to close at 632.57.Foreign investors net bought 651.4 billion won worth stocks, pulling

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, a shipbuilding affiliate of Hyundai Heavy Industries, has landed a 300 billion won ($265.7 million) pre-initial public offering investment with IMM Private Equity. Under the agreement with IMM PE, HSHI said it will issue 5.36 million new convertible preferred shares, with the private equity firm paying out 300 billion won in total to acquire the stocks at 56,000 won per share.The new deal will bring Hyundai Samho’s total market value to 2.5 trillion won.&nbs

Daewoo Engineering & Construction has recorded its largest quarterly operating profit in the company’s history, posting operating profits of roughly 22.1 billion won ($19.5 million) and a net income of 191.9 billion won, according to the company Tuesday. Despite recording operating and net losses in the fourth quarter of last year, Daewoo E&C said the profits achieved in its housing and construction sectors rose by 171 percent compared to the same period last year, thrusting t

Mirae Asset Global Investments, an asset management unit under Mirae Asset Global Investments Group, said its four exchange-traded funds have shown their competitive edge against other ETF products on the Hong Kong Exchange.Mirae Asset’s four leverage and inverse ETFs, or L&I ETFs, that traces Hang Seng index comprised of H-shares on the Hong Kong Exchange, ranked second in terms of the market share in L&I ETFs’ accumulated turnover as of April 19 since their listing on the H

Since the fourth industrial revolution was discussed in the World Economic Forum in January, 2016, the academic circle and the media have expressed interests in key drivers of the fourth industrial revolution including biometrics, big data and artificial intelligence. In addition, Google DeepMind’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo came under the spotlight with its unexpected moves in Go games against Lee Se-dol in March, 2016.This helped many agree that the fourth industrial revolut

South Korea's terms of trade deteriorated slightly in March from a year earlier as a rise in export prices was offset by a hike in import prices, central bank data showed Tuesday.The terms of trade index for products came to 99.57 last month, down 4.5 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports, showing how the country's exports are doing in comparison to others.In Marc

South Korean stocks traded higher late Tuesday morning, led by gains in tech and autos.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 9.11 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,182.85 as of 11:15 a.m.Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board. Top market cap Samsung Electronics rose 1.84 percent, while SK hynix, a major chipmaker, shed 1.15 percent.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, gained 2.12 percent and its smaller affiliate, Kia Motors, fell 0.2 percent.SK Innovation, the No. 1 ref

Foreign investors bought South Korean stocks for a third straight session, fueling expectations that the country's benchmark index could break this year's record high, brokerage data showed Tuesday.Foreign buying between Thursday and Monday came to nearly 700 billion won ($617 million), according to data from Korea Exchange, the local bourse operator. Foreigners' buying spree of local stocks came despite heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons p

The reported capitalization of South Korean life insurers is expected to face pressure if they adopt a new international accounting standard, credit appraiser Moody's Investors Services said Tuesday.South Korean life insurers have been preparing to report financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards 17, which will go into effect in South Korea from 2021.  Stella Ng, a vice president of Moody's, said the new global accounting standard will require life insurers to meas