SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks closed higher on Wednesday to snap a two-day losing streak as institutional buyers scooped up medical and telecoms shares offsetting a massive selling spree by foreigners following overnight Wall Street losses, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock [...]
SEOUL, May 31 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s central bank should maintain the current monetary easing policy to support growth, a member of the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) monetary policy board said Wednesday. Koh Seung-beom made the case during a luncheon meeting with reporters at the BOK headquarters in central Seoul, noting the recovery [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday as foreign investors and institutions offloaded large-cap stocks in an apparent move to lock in profits. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 9.29 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,343.68. Bae Sung-young, [...]
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 23 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea has trumped other Asian Pacific countries in terms of mobile financial service usage, a report showed Monday. Users in South Korea had over 7 billion sessions in banking apps in 2016, which was nearly four times as many compared to Australians, according to the latest report by [...]
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 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Citibank Korea, the local unit of U.S. banking giant Citigroup, said Wednesday that it will convert almost all nonregular workers on its payroll into regular employees by the end of this year. Citibank Korea said the beneficiaries include about 300 tellers and other workers with low wages, which account for 8.5 percent of its total staff. Bank CEO Park Jin-hei said the agenda to change [...]
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 [...]