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 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 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 [...]
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The new coronavirus outbreak in South Korea has resulted in the rise of insurance subscriptions through online channels. Thanks to the ease of subscribing to insurance plans on the Internet or via mobile devices, the interest of the middle-aged as well as those in their 20s and 30s has [...]
SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean investors in derivatives-tied securities could suffer big losses due to a global stock rout and plunging oil prices, industry sources said Monday. Sixteen major securities firms have posted online notices that they have sold a combined 1,077 equity-linked securities (ELS) and derivatives-linked securities (DLS) products that may [...]
SEOUL, March 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Gold funds in South Korea have posted dismal returns over the past month amid falling gold prices due to the coronavirus scare, data showed Thursday. Local gold funds with assets of 1 billion won (US$796,000) or more registered an average return of minus 12.45 percent over the last one-month [...]