SEOUL, Jul. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s retail investors are generally staying away from the local bourses, industry data showed Thursday, as foreigners and institutions pushed up stocks to record highs in recent months backed by improving corporate earnings and resilient exports. The KOSPI main bourse has risen 18 percent in the first six [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean manufacturers’ business sentiment reached the highest in over two years, but pessimism still outweighed optimism overall, a survey showed Wednesday. A survey of some 2,200 manufacturing firms put the business sentiment index (BSI) at 94 in the third quarter, up five points from the second quarter but [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Bank, South Korea’s second Internet-only bank, aims to eventually lead the online payment market, by taking advantage of its robust mobile ecosystem, the bank’s two co-chief executives said Tuesday. Kakao Bank, led by Kakao Corp., operator of Korea’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, is set to officially begin its [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government is accelerating its efforts to embrace the use of cryptocurrencies typified by bitcoin in the public sector, amid growing demand for digital assets that could replace physical money in the future. Lawmaker Park Yong-jin, a member of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party, announced on Sunday plans [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Some foreign investment banks have raised their growth forecasts for South Korea’s economy this year, thanks to better-than-expected exports and facility investment, a financial research institute said Tuesday. The Bank of Korea has upgraded its growth forecast for the country to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent, citing improving exports, [...]
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s five carmakers said Monday their combined sales fell 14 percent last month from a year earlier as overseas vehicle demand remained weak. The five automakers — Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. — sold a total [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid growing preference for emerging markets among global investors, the sales of South Korean equity funds more than quadrupled during the first half of 2017, an industry report said. According to an industry report released on Monday by Mirae Asset Daewoo Securities and EPFR Global, the volume of South [...]
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) – The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is set to pass a reform bill which will require financial companies to record conversations with vulnerable elderly customers when selling derivative-linked securities, in a bid to address concerns over unscrupulous sales tactics. The FSC’s announcement about the new financial reforms came on Sunday amid [...]
SEOUL, July 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will not undergo a sharp drop in consumption despite the ever-rising household debt, a private think tank said Monday, citing growth in property and financial asset value. Households where the head of the family was over 55 have witnessed a 94.51 percent rise in income and 78.32 [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Eight out of ten low-income, middle-aged and elderly people between the ages of 38 and 63 will likely face an uncertain financial future after retirement without a private pension or retirement pension, let alone the national pension, even after they turn 65. This forecast is based on an audit [...]