Investors engaged in naked short selling will be fined up to 100 percent of their order amount, the nation’s top financial regulator said Tuesday.  According to the policymaking Financial Services Commission, the revised Capital Markets Act, which imposes tougher penalties for naked short selling, has taken effect on the same day.  Short selling is a trading tactic where investors immediately sell borrowed stocks on a bet that share prices will fall, allowing them to later re

The Korea Corporate Governance Service, a nonprofit organization that offers environmental, social and governance evaluations for companies, said Tuesday that it had downgraded the ESG ratings of nine companies, including Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom and LG Display. Samsung was given an overall rating of B+, down from the previous score of A. The company scored a B in the governance category after Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong received a 30-month jail sentence in January for bribery a

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi could log a fresh record high in the second quarter, a local analyst suggested Tuesday, citing stable US Treasury yields and market rallies on Wall Street as fundamentals. KB Securities analyst Lee Eun-taek wrote in a report that the rise in value of the Korean won against the US dollar is also another positive factor to foreigners’ net purchases in the local stock market. “Kospi is expected to continue its upward movement in the middle of the se

Hotel transaction volume in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul fell sharply in 2020 as travel restrictions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic sent shock waves through the accommodation industry, data showed Tuesday. The 22 hotel transactions that closed in Seoul last year amounted to 701.8 billion won ($624.8 million), down 53 percent from a year prior, according to data from real estate services firm GenstarMate. In the meantime Seoul’s hotel occupancy rate, a key indicator

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street on the back of strong US jobs data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.36 points, or 0.40 percent, to reach 3,133.19 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The strong start followed overnight gains on Wall Street, which got a boost from better-than-expected US jobs data released Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite adde

Shares in local brokerages have risen over the past few days as their investments in rising fintech companies have gained attention from investors. 　 Shares in Hanwha Investment and Securities rose 61 percent from Wednesday, following local media reports that Dunamu, the operator of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, is mulling a New York Stock Exchange listing. The IPO rumor boosted the investment arm of Hanwha, which owns 6.15 percent or 2.07 million shares in Dunamu,

South Korean stocks advanced for the third straight session on Monday as investors weigh the $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal in the United States. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.03 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 3,120.83 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 12.8 trillion won ($11.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 511 to 343. Foreigners

South Korean credit card issuer Hyundai Card has launched new credit cards which offer what the company says "ultimate rewards," for customers. The new credit cards under the Hyundai Card Z brand is the latest edition of the company’s credit card series named with alphabet letters. The new cards named after the last letter of the English alphabet comes with a range of cream-of-the-crop benefits, such as discounts at online streaming services, like Netflix, and retail ma

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday as investors speculate on a US congressional pushback over the massive size of the $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.71 points, or 0.15 percent, to 3,108.09 points in the first 18 minutes of trading. In Seoul, top cap Samsung Electronics edged up 0.24 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 0.71 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor lost 0.21 percent, and i

As the number of South Koreans investing in the local stock market nears 10 million, about one-third of those investors are also overseas stock traders, according to local securities firms Sunday. The recent data, compiled by 10 major brokerages here including Mirae Asset Securities and Kiwoom Securities, showed that the number of active equity accounts for overseas stock trading was 3.21 million as of March. The number of trading accounts at local investment firms came to 435,000 at the end

Growth rate of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s market value stands at No. 43 among 86 nations

Yoon Suk-heun, chief of South Korea‘s financial watchdog, pledged on Friday to beef up its oversight to prevent a spillover of risks associated with environmental, social and governance factors in the Korean finance industry. In a keynote speech at a seminar held in Seoul on Friday, the Financial Supervisory Service governor pledged to shape up a framework to gauge climate risks that could undermine the health of financial companies, in the nation where such standardized framework is pra

South Korea’s consumer prices grew at the fastest clip in 14 months in March, since the coronavirus pandemic dealt a serious blow to the nation’s economy early last year, according to a report Friday. The price for spring onion, in particular, grew by more than 300 percent over the course of a year, marking the steepest growth in 26 years and 11 months. The surging price of scallion is thought to be one of the main reasons behind the soaring prices of agricultural products. The

South Korea's benchmark stock index closed at the highest point in six weeks Friday on strong foreign and instutional buying amid hopes for a massive infrastructure project in the United States. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 25.4 points, or 0.82 percent, to close at 3,112.8 points, the highest number since Feb. 17. Trading volume was moderate at about 781 million shares worth some 13.2 trillion won ($11.7 billion), with

Billionaires get richer during coronavirus pandemic: report