South Korean stocks are predicted to pull off modest gains this week as the global economy, led by the United States, may grow steadily at least until early 2015, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 1,964.84 last Friday, up 1.01 percent, or 19.7 points, from a week earlier.The increase came as data emerging from the world’s largest economy showed signs of improvement in key areas such as real estate, manufacturing and the job market.Predictions of m

Samsung Heavy Industries, the shipbuilding unit of Samsung Group, said Wednesday that it has scrapped a deal for merging with affiliated plant builder Samsung Engineering due to higher-than-expected share buyback costs. “We have decided to respect the opinion from the market and shareholders,“ Samsung Heavy said in a statement. “The company will reconsider a possible merger with Samsung Engineering, keeping tabs on the market situation and shareholders’ opinions.” The deal, said to be a part of

SK Engineering & Construction, a leading South Korean builder, said Wednesday it has started work on constructing a $1.2 billion thermal power plant in Chile.The project near the Mejillones region, 1,200 kilometers north of Santiago, includes building two 375 megawatt coal-fired generators. The power plant, once it goes online in December 2018, will be the largest of its kind in the South American country. The plant will provide electricity to nearby mines and to a local electric power company f

Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s top automaker, said Tuesday it would buy back 450 billion won ($413.6 million) worth of shares in the next three months to prop up its stock price, after hitting lows not seen in years due to a grim outlook and a pricey land deal. In a regulatory filing, the automaker said it would buy common shares worth 366.8 billion won and preferred shares worth 82.3 billion won to “increase shareholder value.”Kia Motors, Hyundai’s affiliate, also announced it would repurchase sh

Foreign investment banks forecast inflation in South Korea to stay low next year amid tepid domestic demand and falling global oil prices, a report showed Tuesday.Nomura projected that inflation would reach 1.3 percent this year and 2 percent next year, both below the inflation target band by the Bank of Korea of 2.5-3.5 percent. The investment bank, however, forecast inflation would reach 3 percent in 2016. “We now expect CPI inflation to remain low for a long time due to lower commodity prices

South Korean brokerage houses saw their net income almost triple in the third quarter from three months earlier on a rise in bond investment derived from low interest rates, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.The combined net profit of 59 local securities firms came to 814.5 billion won ($749 million) in the July-September period, compared with 276.3 billion won the previous quarter, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.For the first nine months of the year, the net income totaled 1.4

Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea’s state-run power company, said Tuesday its net profit soared 61.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier on higher electricity rates and cheaper fuel costs. Net income reached 1.56 trillion won ($1.37 billion) in the July-September period, compared with 973 billion won from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 4.3 percent to 14.97 trillion won in the period, while operating income jumped 84.9 percent to 2.86 trillion w

Total debts owed by the self-employed in South Korea have snowballed in the past four years, far surpassing the growth pace of corporate and mortgage loans amid an economic slowdown, industry data showed Sunday. The combined loans to the self-employed by Korea’s five largest commercial banks amounted to 134 trillion won ($122.5 billion) as of end-October, adding 40 trillion won from the end of 2010, according to the data from banks. Loan totals were provided by Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori