South Korea’s stock market retreated Thursday, hit by the growing debt crisis faced by Evergrande Group, one of China’s biggest property developers, as financial authorities vowed to closely monitor the situation’s impact on the market. The benchmark Kospi lost 12.93 points, or 0.41 percent, to close at 3,127.58 points. The secondary tech-heavy Kosdaq shed 9.86 points or 0.94 percent to close at 1,036.26. Trading volume was moderate at about 612 million shares worth some 13.

South Korea plans to closely monitor financial markets as China Evergrande Group's debt problems and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's tapering issue could increase market volatility, a senior government official said Thursday. First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said the government will also pump up efforts to slow the growth of household debt in a bid to ease financial imbalances. Global financial markets were rattled this week ahead of the Fed's policy meeting and due to concerns

South Korea's exports rose 22.9 percent on-year in the first 20 days of September on the back of robust demand for chips, petroleum products and autos, customs data showed Thursday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $36.1 billion in the Sept. 1-20 period, compared with $29.4 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 38.8 percent on-year to $35 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.12 billion during the cited period, the data s

South Korea's listed companies are likely to see their earnings spike nearly 50 percent in the third quarter on brisk exports, a market tracker said Thursday. The combined operating income of 246 listed firms is expected to reach 59.6 trillion won ($50.6 billion) for the July-September period, up about 49 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. The operating profit outlook still remains high though it is much lower than forecasts of 118 percent and 91 percent for the first and secon

Major South Korean companies' dependence on overseas markets for sales increased in the first half of the year amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday. Combined overseas sales of the country's top 100 firms by revenue climbed 13.2 percent on-year to 397.3 trillion won ($337 billion) in the January-June period, according to the data from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). The amount accounted for 54.9 percent of their total top line for the first half, up 2.8 percentage poin

Insurance firms in South Korea saw their risk-based capital ratio rise in the second quarter of this year as they strengthened capital, data showed Thursday. The risk-based capital (RBC) ratio of local insurance firms stood at 260.9 percent at end-June, up 5 percentage points from three months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The rise in the RBC ratio came as insurers boosted capital and reported modest profits, according to the FSS. A key yardstick

The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday maintained its previous 4 percent growth outlook for the South Korean economy this year, on the back of robust exports and mild recovery in private consumption. The ADB kept its earlier growth scenario for Korea, which was released in July. It also left its 2022 growth outlook unchanged at 3.1 percent, according to the bank’s report titled “Asian Development Outlook Update.” However, it forecast that Korea’s inflation rate will

South Korea has larger class sizes and lower employment rates among the highly educated than Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) averages, the education ministry said Friday. According to the latest edition of the OECD's "Education at a Glance," released by the Ministry of Education, elementary and middle school classes had an average of 23 and 26.1 students, respectively, in 2019. The figures were lower than 23.1 and 26.7 from 2018 but still higher than the OE

The South Korean economy is facing continued uncertainty about the recovery of domestic demand as the latest resurgence in COVID-19 cases is denting person-to-person service sectors, the finance ministry said Friday. In its monthly economic assessment report, the ministry said the country's exports have extended solid growth momentum and the job market has improved despite the fourth wave of the pandemic. "But uncertainty over domestic demand has continued, centering on face-to-face service

South Korea's trade watchdog said Thursday it has decided to recommend the government extend anti-dumping duties on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film imported from Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, citing substantial damage to the local industry. The Korea Trade Commission said it has advised the finance ministry to set duties of 3.19 percent to 60.95 percent on PET film coming from the countries for the next five years. The country already had been applying tariffs of around

The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans rose in July due to an increase in overdue corporate loans, the financial regulator said Thursday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.27 percent at the end of July, up from 0.25 percent the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the rate was down 0.09 percentage point in July. The delinquency rate for corporate loans rose 0.03 percentage poi

South Korea's public account surplus turned to deficit in 2020 as the government increased fiscal spending to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Thursday. In 2020, the country's public account deficit came to 50.6 trillion won ($43.3 billion), according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The deficit compared with a 14.7 trillion won surplus in 2019, when the country's public account balance continued to stay in the black for the fifth consecut

South Korea's exports of fishery products rose nearly 18 percent on-year in the first eight months of 2021 amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments of fishery products reached $1.74 billion over the January-August period, compared to $1.48 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The ministry attributed the growth to more people visiting restaurants around the globe compared to the previous year, which boosted the demand for seafood

South Korea's trade ministry said Thursday it has been maintaining robust trade with Britain on the back of their free trade agreement (FTA), which was revamped earlier this year, despite London's divorce with the European Union. South Korea and Britain held their first meeting of the trade committee of goods virtually to discuss a wide array of commerce issues and follow up on the bilateral FTA, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries implemented the pact i

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday that state-backed funds will extend loan maturity and rollover interest payments again for smaller firms and merchants hit hard by the pandemic. State-run agencies and funds set up to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro business owners will extend the measures by another six months until March next year, Hong said. The move follows similar measures taken by local banks as part of efforts to support smaller companies and merchant