SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) – The financial regulator said Tuesday it will apply tighter rules for mortgage loans to all mutual savings institutions starting next month, in the latest step to control fast-growing household debt. The tighter rules, which already have been applied to retail banks and other depository institutions, require borrowers to repay [...]
SEOUL, May 28 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean companies’ earnings for the year are forecast to be higher than earlier expected on the back of improving conditions, industry data showed Sunday. According to the data compiled by industry tracker FnGuide, the combined earnings of listed firms here are estimated at 143.59 trillion won (US$128 billion) [...]
SEOUL, May 24 (Korea Bizwire) – Global investment banks (IBs) have upgraded their investment ratings on South Korean stocks and hiked targets of its benchmark stock index on expectations for higher corporate earnings and other positives, a report showed Wednesday. Among seven major foreign IBs, UBS, Nomura, Citi, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merill [...]
SEOUL, May 22 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean shares breached the 2,300-point mark for the first time ever as foreign investors scooped up major tech stocks amid sound corporate earnings, bucking overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said. The Korean won sharply rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) [...]
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign ownership of stocks traded on South Korea’s secondary stock market has reached a fresh high on expectations the country’s new government may take steps to boost smaller firms, data showed Tuesday. As of Thursday, offshore investors held 23.3 trillion won (US$20.8 billion) worth of shares traded on the [...]
SEOUL, May 15 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s household loans extended by banks rose 9.8 percent in April from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding household loans from lenders came to 718.6 trillion won (US$637 billion) as of end-April, compared with 654.3 trillion won from a year earlier, according [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Penny stocks have been losers on South Korea’s main bourse this year, while stocks with higher prices have tended to be more profitable, data showed Sunday. According to the main bourse operator Korea Exchange, 19 stocks with a price tag below 1,000 won (US$0.89) posted a loss of 4.04 [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s national pension fund has earned nearly 13 trillion won (US$11.5 billion) from stock investments this year thanks to the bullish stock market, data showed Friday. According to the data by market tracker FnGuide and industry sources, the value of 278 stocks, of which the National Pension Service [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has imposed a levy on financial firms’ non-deposit foreign borrowing to ease volatility in capital flows, the central banks said Thursday. The Bank of Korea said 66 financial companies, including 17 local banks and 34 branches of foreign lenders, are required to pay 0.1 percent of their [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Transactions by South Korea’s private equity firms slipped 30.4 percent on year in 2016 amid a lack of mega buyout deals, government data showed Tuesday. Local private equity groups invested a total of 8.9 trillion won (US$7.8 billion) last year, compared with deals worth 12.8 trillion won in 2016, [...]