Trade volume between South Korea and the United States totaled $135.2 billion last year, up 32 percent from $101.8 billion posted in 2012, when a bilateral free trade agreement went into effect, government data showed Sunday. Trade volume between the two countries in 2019 also moved up 2.7 percent on-year, which is significant considering South Korea's overall trade with the world plunged 8.3 percent over the period to $1.04 trillion, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, In

South Korea’s financial authorities on Friday announced a six-month ban on short-selling in the local stock market, effective Monday, in an effort to reduce market volatility amid the spread of COVID-19. The hurried action came as the country’s stock market nose-dived earlier the same day, triggering a temporary trading halt in both the main bourse Kospi and the secondary Kosdaq. “Short-selling of all listed stocks on (the main bourse) Kospi and (secondary) Kosdaq and (ter

S&P Global Ratings said Friday the ultimate impact of the new coronavirus outbreak on its global airline ratings will depend on the duration and severity of the crisis. The spread of COVID-19 cases across the globe has caused air traffic demand to plunge in recent weeks. With the virus now present in more than 100 countries and territories, more flight cancellations are expected as lower travel demand, S&P said in a statement.  "We see significant downside potential to t

Weighed by the escalating impact of COVID-19, South Korea’s central bank hinted Friday that it may lean toward an earlier-than-expected policy rate cut as early as within this month. “Members of the Monetary Policy Board are currently contemplating the necessity to hold an extraordinary panel meeting,” the Bank of Korea said in a release. The monetary policy institution’s latest move came as Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its stock market nosedive amid inve

South Korea's automobile exports sank 25 percent in February from a year earlier to extend their on-year drop to the seventh month in a row as the operation of local car factories was partially disrupted amid the global outbreak of the new coronavirus, data showed Friday. South Korean carmakers shipped 123,022 units of cars overseas last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, auto exports also moved down 16.6 percent over the p

The Bank of Korea said Friday that it will take active steps to help stabilize the local market, noting the volatility in the country's financial markets may seem excessive. "The Bank of Korea plans to actively use its policy measures to stabilize the financial market as the volatility in the local financial and foreign exchange markets is expanding due to the impact from the spread of COVID-19," the central bank said after an emergency meeting. The meeting, chaired by BOK Dep. Gov.

South Korean institutional investors have been loading up on stocks this month despite a virus-induced market crash, data showed Friday. The country's state pension fund and other institutions remained in net buying mode between March 2 and Thursday, purchasing stocks worth nearly 1.1 trillion won ($910 million), according to the data from the Korea Exchange. The figure represents a drastic increase from their February net buying tallied at 348 billion won. Institutions' net buying stood at

After struggling with a record-low growth pace last year, South Korea’s economy was aspiring to make a rebound in 2020, hopefully on the back of global trade improvements and a chip industry recovery -- until suffering the harsh blow of the novel coronavirus. As of December, major global organizations and policy institutes here forecast that Korea’s economic growth pace for 2020 will be in the 2.2-2.4 percent range. While the International Monetary Fund suggested a conservative 2.

Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday that the United States has decided not to impose an antidumping duty on its corrosion-resistant steel products. The US Department of Commerce made the final determination on Wednesday (local time) in its annual review of the case, according to Hyundai Steel. The move came after the U.S. launched an investigation into the sale of corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea between July 2017 and June 2018. Hyundai Steel s

The ongoing spread of the new coronavirus is expected to have a greater and longer-lasting impact on the local economy than past epidemics, partly due to its impact on China, now one of the world's largest suppliers and buyers, a central bank report said Thursday. "The ongoing crisis is expected to have a greater impact than in the past in that COVID-19 is spreading to other countries while China currently is the world's largest trading and tourism exchange country and plays a critical rol

South Korea's exports of agricultural goods tumbled a whopping 13 percent in January from a year earlier as the global outbreak of the new coronavirus dealt a harsh blow to the country's efforts to penetrate deeper into Asian countries. Outbound shipments of agricultural products reached $692 million in January, down from $786 million posted a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. Exports of fresh goods tumbled 14.4 percent o

Nation braces for harsh blow in March figures amid COVID-19 impact

South Korean exports of information and communication technology (ICT) goods grew for the first time in 16 months in February on brisk shipments of chips and smartphones, government data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of ICT products expanded 8.5 percent on-year to $13.74 billion last month, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. February marks the first month since November 2018 that the country's ICT exports have increased from a year earlier. Asia's fourth-larg

South Korea's exports rose by more than 20 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of March, customs data showed Wednesday, but the new coronavirus outbreak may limit the growth of its exports and economy. The country's outbound shipments came to US$13.3 billion in the March 1-10 period, up 21.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The daily average, however, slipped 2.5 percent on-year to $1.78 billion. The customs office note

South Korea's jobless rate fell in February and job creations rose by more  than 400,000 for the third straight month, with the outbreak of the new coronavirus dealing a harsh blow to some sectors, such as the retail and wholesale segment, data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage point to 4.1 percent last month, and the number of employed people reached 26.83 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. South Korea added 492,000 jobs in the month.