HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Korea’s state-run pension fund is seeking to invest as much as $300 million in Chinese stock markets as it looks to diversify assets worth nearly $300 billion, officials said.The National Pension Service said earlier this week that it received the status of “qualified foreign institutional investor” from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.The pension fund service expects to receive a quota ranging from $100 million to $300 million, equivalent to 0.1 percent or l

The growth of Korea‘s money supply remained at the same pace in November of last year as the previous month although it picked up from a year earlier, the central bank said Thursday. Korea’s M2, a narrow measure of the money supply, totaled 1753.3 trillion won ($1.5 trillion) in November 2011, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.The growth speed of November M2 remained unchanged from a 4.4 percent on-year expansion tallied in October, which marked the sharpest grow

Uncertainties stemming from the eurozone debt crisis are likely to impact the Korean economy, Asia‘s fourth-largest, by sapping overseas demand for local products, HSBC Bank Plc said Thursday.“The uncertainties may have dampening impacts on (Korea’s) export mechanism ... If consumers are cautious, they will buy less goods,” Steven Major, Global Head of HSBC‘s Fixed Income Research, told reporters in a media session.Major said Germany may be an exception that could help offset weakening demand in

Korea’s fund market suffered a setback last year, with its aggregate amount of money parked for stock and bond investment shrinking amid heightened global growth risks and wobbly financial markets, data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the total amount under management of local funds stood at 298.5 trillion won ($257.4 billion) as of the end of December, down 6.3 percent from 318.8 trillion won a year earlier. The latest figure marked the fi

The state-run antitrust watchdog said Thursday that it has fined local electronics rivals Samsung and LG for fixing the prices of key home appliances. Samsung was fined 25.81 billion won ($22.28 million) and LG 18.83 billion won, according to the Fair Trade Commission. As part of the regulator’s leniency program for first and second declarers, one of the companies will be exempt from the fines, while the other will get 50 percent cuts. The FTC said its investigation started after a voluntary rep

South Korean stocks closed 1.03 percent higher on Thursday as investors snapped up shares on eased eurozone debt woes and signs of moderate U.S. economic growth, analysts said. The local currency inched up against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark KOSPI gained 19.02 points to 1,864.57. Trading volume was heavy at 470.8 million shares worth 5.31 trillion won ($4.57 billion) with gainers outstripping decliners 477 to 338.“Despite lingering uncertainty, investors got a little relief from U.S. markets,”

Foreign investment in Korea grew a healthy 4.6 percent last year as an inflow of capital from rich countries sharply rose despite persistent uncertainties in the global economy.Foreign direct investment was $13.67 billion last year, up from $13.07 billion in 2010, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Thursday. The spike mainly resulted from robust investments by the European Union, the U.S. and Japan, which shot up 33.6 percent year-on-year to nearly $9.7 billion in 2011.EU nations together in

Hyundai Motor Co. topped customer loyalty in the U.S. car market with the highest repurchase rate in 2011, a survey by the country’s biggest consumer research company J. D. Power said Thursday.Hyundai Motor released a statement detailing the survey from J. D. Power and said it surpassed the customer loyalty of BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus and other brands with a repurchase rate of 64 percent. Ford and Honda tied with 60 percent each, followed by Kia and BMW with 59 percent each.The survey was condu

The chairman of a suspended savings bank died early Thursday of an apparent suicide after being summoned by prosecutors investigating irregularities at several troubled savings banks. Ace Mutual Savings Bank chairman Kim Hak-heon lost consciousness in a hotel room in southern Seoul after taking sleeping pills earlier in the day, prosecutors said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Kim was scheduled to appear before prosecutors for questioning the same morning in re

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s judgment and cleared a former chief of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System of breach-of-trust charges.The final ruling cleared Jung Yun-joo of charges he caused nearly 190 billion won ($164 million) in losses for the state broadcasting firm by withdrawing a tax-dispute suit that could have given the firm a massive tax refund.Prosecutors indicted Jung in 2008, alleging that the dropping of the lawsuit against the tax agency forced the stat