South Korean stocks traded higher late Monday morning, led by gains in tech and banking stocks.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 4 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,169.04 as of 11:15 a.m.Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.Top market cap Samsung Electronics rose 0.54 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, climbed 0.96 percent.Shinhan Financial, the country's most profitable banking group, gained 1.68 percent.Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, remained unchan

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday, led by gains in tech firms and banking firms.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 8.12 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,173.16 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded higher, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.69 percent and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, rising 0.96 percent.Shinhan Financial, the country's most profitable banking group, added 1.36 percent, and Posco, the No. 1 steelmaker, soared 1.85 percent.In

South Korea's finance minister pledged on Saturday (local time) to step up policy efforts to help Asia's fourth-largest economy gather upward momentum in the midst of a global recovery.In a meeting with Moody's officials, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the South Korean government will focus its fiscal policies on boosting consumption and investment and make constant efforts to deal with external and internal risks such as household debts, rising trade protectionism and geopolitical issues. He a

A local think tank said Sunday the world economy is in a clear upside mode led by recovering advanced economies, giving an opportunity to export-dependent South Korea.The Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) in Seoul revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the world economy to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent. The HRI said in a report the United States has entered the "Goldilocks economy" of sustained growth and low inflation as the world's largest economy pulls off moderate growth on the back

The number of unemployed people with a bachelor's degree in South Korea surpassed 500,000 in the first quarter for the first time amid the tightened job market for young adults, government data showed Sunday.Jobless people reached 1.17 million in the January-March period, up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of unemployed college graduates rose 9.2 percent on-year to 543,000 over the three-month period. It is first time that their quar

South Korea's major business lobby Sunday urged presidential hopefuls to observe market economy principles to create an atmosphere favorable to businesses that leads to more investments in facilities and jobs, which it said is the top priority of any presidential hopeful.The Korean Employers Federation (KEF) called on them to introduce measures to help large shareholders defend against hostile takeover bids and use substitute workers during strikes by labor unions. Such measures will be a prereq

The market capitalization of Korea’s top 30 conglomerates surged nearly 20 percent from a year ago, driven by Samsung Electronics’ share value rally, according to market data compiled by a local corporate tracker Sunday.According to a survey by CEOScore, the combined market value of the 176 listed firms owned by the country’s 30 largest business groups reached 969.9 trillion won ($853.8 billion) as of Friday, up 18.7 percent from 817.3 trillion won tallied on Jan. 1 last year.&

The governor of South Korea's central bank has said that the US expansionary fiscal policies could help the world economy and that South Korea's exports could continue to improve.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Friday that South Korea's exports have picked up due to a recovery of the world economy. Lee made the comments in a meeting with South Korean reporters after attending the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting in Washington.South Korea's exports rose for the fifth st

Tensions with North Korea haven’t had any significant impact on South Korea’s trade and investment, and a sharp rise in US interest rates is a major risk for Asia’s fourth largest economy going forward, an International Monetary Fund official said Friday.“So far, we have not seen any significant impact on South Korea’s trade investments,” Markus Rodlauer, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific department at the IMF, said during a press briefing, referring to the

The Financial Supervisory Service of Korea announced Friday that it took punitive action against Korea‘s four securities firms for receiving rebates from a securities-financing services company.The firms -- Mirae Asset Daewoo, NH Investment & Securities, Yuanta Securities Korea and Korea Investment & Securities -- were found to have received rebates in return for depositing customers’ money in the money market wrap run by Korea Securities Finance Corp.  Combined they too

Hana Financial Group Inc., a major South Korean banking group, said Friday its net profit rose 12.4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on increased interest income and other synergy effects.Net profit came to 492.1 billion won ($434 million) in the January-March period on a consolidated basis, up 54.2 billion won from a year ago, the group said in a regulatory filing. It marked the highest quarterly net profit since the first quarter of 2012.Hana Financial Group said it has set asi

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Friday asked heads of banks not to recklessly collect debt from the financially-troubled shipbuilders such as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, directly made such request at a meeting with CEOs of 15 commercial banks including Shinhan, Kookmin, Woori and KEB Hana, after thanking them for cooperating in the rescheduling of debt for DSME, the FSS said.The world’s largest

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday reiterated the government's commitment to fostering growth engines and new industries to stay ahead in intensifying global competition. Hwang made the remarks during a ceremony to mark the Day of Science on Friday, and the Day of Information and Communications on Saturday, respectively. "(Our country) will strive to create new industries and services by securing future growth engines such as smart cars and the Internet of Things,&q

South Korean stocks closed higher Friday as foreigners scooped up stocks on bargain hunting. The won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 10.75 points, or 0.50 percent, to close at 2,149.15. Trade volume was moderate at 274.59 million shares worth 4.63 trillion won ($4.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 424 to 356.Foreign and institutional investors bought a combined 323.75 billion won worth of shares, offsetting individuals' net selling wort

State-run Industrial Bank of Korea said Friday that its first-quarter net profit jumped 15.9 percent from a year earlier on increased interest income and gains from asset sales.Net profit for the three months ending March 31 came to 437.7 billion won ($386 million) on a consolidated basis, compared to 377.7 billion won a year earlier, the lender said in a regulatory filing.The figure includes earnings of its non-bank affiliates.On a standalone basis, the bank saw its net profit rise 12.1 percent