SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Individual investors in South Korea have raked in a massive amount of local stocks since the country’s first coronavirus outbreak in January, countering foreigners’ selling mode, data showed Thursday. Since South Korea’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20 to Thursday’s closing, individuals bought a net 20.6 trillion [...]
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of gold surged to over a seven-year high in February as demand for safer assets increased amid a market rout triggered by the new coronavirus, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Wednesday. Outbound shipments of gold for non-monetary use came to some US$290 million in the [...]
SEOUL, April 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Transactions of stock index futures and options in South Korea spiked in February due to greater market volatility caused by the new coronavirus outbreak, data showed Wednesday. The daily turnover of stock index futures came to 30.9 trillion won (US$25.5 billion) in February, up 58 percent from January and [...]
SEOUL, April 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Monday that it has launched a pilot program for a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) to check its capabilities in issuing such a currency. The test program was launched last month and will be concluded before the end of next year. The test [...]
SEOUL, April 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Major firms in South Korea are slated to pay out more than 5 trillion won (US$4.04 billion) in dividends to foreign investors in April, data showed Monday, raising concerns over a possible deficit in the country’s current account balance. South Korea’s top 20 firms in terms of dividend payouts [...]
SEOUL, April 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The portion of real estate investments by wealthy Koreans with more than 1 billion won (US$814,800) in financial assets has decreased over the past six years, according to a recent report. The preference of index-linked products, which have been considered the most sought-after financial instruments by the rich, also [...]
SEOUL, April 1 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s Internet banking services continued to grow in 2019, with the number of users and daily transactions climbing to new highs, central bank data showed Wednesday. The number of internet and mobile banking users came to about 159.2 million as of end-2019, up 8.6 percent from a year [...]
SEOUL, March 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean real estate investment trusts (REITs) have been hit hard by escalating concerns over a global recession stemming from the new coronavirus outbreak, data showed Monday. Shares in Lotte Shopping Co.’s REIT, listed in October last year, finished at 4,910 won (US$4.03) Friday, down 20.3 percent from the [...]
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea on Tuesday unveiled an emergency aid package worth 42 trillion won (US$34 billion) to help ease the credit crunch and stabilize financial markets hit hard by the spread of the new coronavirus. The aid package came as the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a harsh blow to South Korean [...]
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign ownership of Samsung Electronics Co. has fallen to a 13-month low amid offshore investors’ selling binge sparked by fears over a coronavirus-induced global economic recession, data showed Tuesday. Foreign investors owned 55.37 percent of Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 smartphone and memory chipmaker, as of Friday, according [...]