More than five out of 10 South Koreans are supportive of the government's plan to hike real estate tax rates to curb rising housing prices, a poll showed Thursday.In the survey on 500 adults conducted by Realmeter, 56.4 percent of the respondents said that they are in favor of the government's plan to strengthen the so-called comprehensive real estate tax scheme. It showed that 30.7 percent oppose the move. Later in the day, the government plans to unveil stronger measures to cool down the overh

The maximum possible number of shares investors can purchase in a single order will be reduced starting next week to prevent fat-finger errors, the local bourse operator said Wednesday.Investors will be allowed to buy a maximum of 1 percent of a firm's total shares per order starting Monday, compared to the current level of 5 percent, according to the Korea Exchange. In cases where an order is to purchase shares worth more than 100 billion won (US$88.65 million), such attempts will be rejec

NH Investment & Securities, South Korea’s second-largest securities firm by net assets, was picked as the most preferred bidder for Seoul Square, a prime office building located in central Seoul, according to the company Wednesday. NH Investment & Securities expects the deal worth 1 trillion won ($890 million) to be complete by the end of November, which would be the second-priciest bid in Korea following an M&G Real Estate Korea 1.1 trillion-won purchase deal of the Centropoli

South Korea’s securities firms saw their local branch network shrink by 40.3 percent in the past seven years until June this year, with the arrival of mobile trading infrastructure here, data showed Wednesday.  According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of brick-and-mortar branches of 56 securities firms that locate at least one business unit in Korea came to 1,116 as of end-June, indicating that 756 branches in Korea have been removed since June 2011. By brok

AlphaBit Cryptocurrency Exchange (ABCC), a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, said Tuesday it will proactively push its expansion into the South Korean market.Last month, the exchange entered the Seoul market by opening its Korean website, and it plans to come up with a mobile trading app next month."South Korea is one of the most active cryptocurrency markets in the world, and we are happy to come to this market," ABCC's CEO Calvin Cheng was quoted as saying by the company's off

The Korea Exchange, South Korea’s sole market operator, will list an exchange-traded fund Wednesday that tracks an index built on big data technology. 　The Kodex Secondary Battery Industry ETF, provided by Samsung Asset Management, will mark the first to use this methodology for this purpose, according to Ko Young-tae, an official in charge of ETF listings at the KRX.The big data techniques will include semantic analyses centering on online materials such as disclosures, investor relations

[THE INVESTOR] Mirae Asset Global Investments, Korea’s largest asset management firm, is leading global investments in innovative technologies that power the fourth industrial revolution.Mirae Asset G2 Innovation Fund, which invests in promising companies in the US and China, posted 23.51 percent of yearly rate of return as of last week, according to market researcher KG Zeroin, becoming the most profitable global equity fund in the industry.The fund invests in companies that develop cutti

Hurdles that impede the flow of cross-border transactions have created cryptocurrency price gaps of more than 40 percent between Korea and other countries, researchers from South Korea’s central bank said Tuesday.The Bank of Korea researchers added that the underlying factors were unlikely to disappear in the near future, meaning the so-called “kimchi premium” is likely to endure for some time. The term “kimchi premium” refers to the gap in cryptocurrency prices on

South Korean credit card firms saw their card loans soar nearly 17 percent on-year in the first half of the year as tougher bank loan screenings forced borrowers to resort to them, industry data showed Tuesday, The country's seven stand-alone card firms -- Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori, Hana, Samsung, Hyundai and Lotte -- extended 20.85 trillion won ($18.5 billion) in the January-March period, up 16.7 percent from a year earlier.The figure marks a sharp increase from the 2.8 percent on-year gain re

A former senior official of the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service has been arrested for colluding with a private money lender in rigging the stock price of his company, prosecutors said Monday.The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said that it arrested a former deputy governor of the FSS, identified by his surname Park, along with a private lender surnamed Seo, on charges of breaching the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.Park, who is also the form

South Korean investors on Monday began to rush to stocks in business areas related to the production of face masks and the development of vaccines, after the recent return of Middle East respiratory syndrome.But foreign investors contributed little to the sharp upward trend in demand for these stocks.  Upon market opening at 9 a.m., GeneOne Life Science, a Korean drugmaker known to have been pursuing development of a MERS vaccine; and Okong, a maker of adhesive products including disposable

South Korea’s 11 real estate trust companies logged a combined 285.3 billion won ($253.1 million) net profit in the first half of 2018, surpassing their performance in all previous half-years, preliminary data showed Monday.  The figure represented an on-year increase of 17.6 percent, and business was in the black for all 11 companies, according to the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea’s financial watchdog.Meanwhile, the companies’ operating profits soared 17.1 percent

This is the 61st in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed.South Korea’s leading smart card part manufacturer Kona I is gaining market presence as a reloadable prepaid card provider, catalyzed by a series of events over the past couple of months.Analysts have expressed optimism that the Seoul-headquartered firm, which has been running at a loss since 2016, can make turnaround by the end of this year.As of Friday, Kona I was the 193rd-la

South Korean stocks will move within a tight range as investors may remain skittish over the escalating trade tension between the United States and China and rising odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike in September, analysts said Saturday.    The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished at 2,281.58 on Friday, down 1.77 percent from a week ago.     The index fell every session except Tuesday on concerns of trade disputes that caused inves

The trade volume of lump sum retail orders on South Korea’s secondary bourse Kosdaq surged this year on the back of growing demand for biopharmaceuticals, data showed Wednesday.According to the country’s stock operator Korea Exchange, the number of individual purchasers’ orders amounting to 100 million won ($90,000) or more at a time totaled 12,499 as of the end of August, up 161.21 percent from the same period last year.Purchases of more than 10,000 shares also moved up 15.5 p