Amid soaring property prices, young investors turn to co-ownership of commercial buildings, plots of land to build apartments

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday as investors attempted to cash in gains from the recent rally. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.66 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,994.86 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a lackluster start amid losses in tech and auto heavyweights. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both retreated 0.04 percent amid lingering inflation concerns. Top cap Samsung E

The number of small shareholders in global tech giant Samsung Electronics surpassed 5 million amid massive stock investment by local retail investors, data showed Monday. Some 5.18 million investors held shares in the top-cap company as of the end of September, triple the tally a year earlier, according to the data from Samsung. Market watchers said a considerable number of local retail investors had bought into Samsung Electronics this year, given foreigners' continued selling of the mos

Standard Chartered Bank Korea saw its quarterly net profit jump 87.2 times on-year to 79.4 billion won ($67.3 million) on a decrease in its future bad debts, filings showed Monday. The surge is attributable to a shrink in provision for credit losses -- an indicator of a financial institution’s future bad debt -- during the third quarter, as well as the increased interest income, according to filings submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service Monday. Notably, the provision for credi

The South Korean stock market closed just shy of the 3,000-point mark Monday after a bullish session, led by strong foreign and institutional buying. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 30.72 points, or 1.03 percent, to close at 2,999.52 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 631 million shares worth some 11.2 trillion won ($9.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 626 to 238. Foreigners bought a net 397 billion w

South Korean game companies with new business plans to develop games using nonfungible tokens saw their share prices surge Monday, despite concerns over the market being overheated without actual plans laid out to materialize such a big agenda, experts said Monday. Nonfungible tokens refer to the digital counterparts of real-world assets, largely visual art or music, that guarantee ownership through the blockchain technology. Game developers enjoying a sudden spike in stock prices have announ

Fractional share trading of overseas stocks is expected to be in full swing by the end of the year, according to the Korea Securities Depository on Monday. The KSD said it has completed a system that supports fractional share trading for 20 brokerages after it was designated by the Financial Services Commission, the country’s financial regulator, as an innovative financial service in a sandbox program last week. In a fractional transaction, when an investor orders to buy less than one

South Korea’s financial watchdog imposed a fine of 23.6 million won ($20,000) on Naver Financial and issued sanctions on its executives, citing the lack of security of its e-payment system and other violations tied to management, reports said Monday. According to local reports, the Financial Supervisory Service earlier this month slapped a fine on Korean portal giant Naver’s wholly owned financial technology unit and issued “warnings,” the lowest level of its five-tier s

Shinhan Investment said Monday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with PharmaVentures, a UK-based leading advisory firm providing whose main clients are health care life science companies, to diverse its investment banking services.  Under the partnership agreement, the two companies will boost cooperation in supporting South Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies to advance to the global stage, while arranging international firms’ investments in the domestic health car

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday, taking a cue from the Wall Street gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 16.43 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,985.23 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5 percent Friday. Investors are waiting for the release of China's economic data and the virtual summit of the leaders of the US and China set for this week. China's October

South Korea is in need of more aggressive investment in renewable energy sector in order to achieve its offshore wind capacity goal by 2030 and address the country’s geographical weaknesses in wind energy, a report showed Sunday. Korea was ranked 21st in terms of attractiveness of renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities, in a report that announces the top 40 countries in the assessment, according to London-based consulting firm Ernst & Young. Korea has slid down the

For the past year, the financial crisis caused by the unsound business practices of certain financial companies such as Lime, Optimus and companies that sold derivative-linked funds, has been the hottest topic within the financial industry. Following the eruption of these well-publicized scandals, financial supervisory authorities began sanctioning financial companies for unsound business practices, fraud perpetrated by fund managers, and misleading sales practices known as “incomplete sal

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone has passed the high bar for official registration while the case of its bigger rival Bithumb remains pending, the country’s top financial regulator said Friday. The Financial Intelligence Unit, an anti-money laundering unit under the Financial Services Commission, approved Coinone’s application to register its virtual asset business but is holding off on a decision about Bithumb. Market insiders suggested that the delay might have something to

Morgan Stanley Capital International said Friday that it has added six South Korean stocks, including local gaming giants Kakao Games and Krafton, to its regional emerging market index via November’s quarterly review. According to the capital market indexes provider, the rest of the list includes L&F, a battery materials manufacturer, fashion company F&F, diagnostics company SD Biosensor and Iljin Materials, an electronics components manufacturer. At the same time, it took thre

South Korean stocks surged by 1.5 percent Friday as investors scooped up oversold stocks after the recent slide. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 43.88 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 2,968.8 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 655 million shares worth some 12.3 trillion won ($10.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 766 to 118. Foreigners bought a net 430 billion won, while retail investors sold 1