SEOUL, May 20 (Korea Bizwire) – E-Mart24, a leading convenience store chain in South Korea, announced on May 19 that all 30,000 units of its highly anticipated Bitcoin Lunchboxes, launched as part of a promotion in collaboration with the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb on May 8, had sold out amid overwhelming customer demand. Priced at 5,500 won, [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) – The value of South Korea’s virtual asset market expanded over 50 percent from six months earlier in the second half of last year, on rising prices of cryptocurrencies, data showed Thursday. The market capitalization of the virtual asset market had come to 43.6 trillion won (US$31.8 billion) as of end-2023, [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s terms of trade rose for the fifth consecutive month in April as export prices rose while import prices fell, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods — a gauge of overall trade terms — improved 5.2 percent last month from a year [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s import prices rose for a fourth consecutive month in April due to an increase in oil prices and the Korean won’s decline against the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Tuesday. The import price index rose 3.9 percent last month from a month earlier following a 0.5 [...]
SEOUL, May 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Taihan Electric Wire emerged as the most actively traded stock on South Korea’s equity market on May 13, buoyed by expectations that the artificial intelligence boom will spur investment in power infrastructure to support expanding data centers. Shares of Taihan Electric Wire closed at 18,110 won on the main Kospi [...]
SEOUL, May 13 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s trade ministry said Monday it has held the first joint committee meeting with Cambodia after their free trade agreement (FTA) took effect and discussed the progress of the deal and ways to cooperate in the global supply chain. Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo met his Cambodian counterpart, Cham [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — First Vice Finance Minister Kim Byoung-hwan on Friday pledged to make all-out efforts to tame inflation, particularly in food prices, by announcing a plan to release reserves of agricultural products and utilize the tariff rate quota system. “The government plans to spare no effort to stabilize inflation, a key [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign investors scooped up Korean stocks in April for the sixth consecutive month on the back of hopes for a recovery in the chipmaking sector, central bank data showed Friday. Offshore investors bought a net US$1.92 billion worth of local stocks last month, following $3.84 billion worth of purchases [...]
SEOUL, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The combined loss by insurers from selling medical indemnity insurance products widened from a year earlier in 2023 despite an increase in sales, data showed Friday. The combined loss of seven life insurers and 10 non-life insurers from their medical indemnity insurance, or reimbursement-backed private medical insurance, came to [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s fiscal deficit reached an all-time high in the first three months of 2024 due to rising expenditures aimed at buttressing an economic recovery, the finance ministry said Thursday. The managed fiscal balance, a key gauge of fiscal health calculated on a stricter term, posted a deficit of [...]