Seoul stocks likely to further advance next week on stimulus: analysts

South Korean stocks are expected to continue to build up gains next week, buoyed by hopes for the reopening of the US economy and the peak of the coronavirus outbreak, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,914.53 points on Friday, compared with 1,860.70 points from a week ago. The KOSPI started off on a weak note on Monday by dropping nearly 2 percent on COVID-19 woes before rebounding on Tuesday and Thursday. The market was closed on Wedn

MarketApril 18, 2020

[Weekender] Make room for us: 5060 generation redefines aging

Yoo Seo-kyung turns 56 this year, but she doesn’t mind getting older. Yoo is excited about the year ahead as she just got into graduate school and now has a chance to delve more deeply into her handicraft hobby. Several years ago, Yoo retired from the private math academy she ran for 10 years. Running the place had become more difficult as she found herself facing an ever-widening generation gap with her teenage students. After retirement, Yoo took an interest in the craft of “ji

IndustryApril 18, 2020

NPS hints at expanding local stock purchases for market stability

Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, who chairs a fund management committee under the state-run National Pension Service, said Friday that the pension operator could take part in the domestic stock market more actively, if needed, to support market stability. “The NPS’ active intervention last month has helped stabilize the stock market,” said the health and welfare minister at a meeting in Seoul in the morning with members of the committee. “The pension fun

MarketApril 17, 2020

Kospi recovers past 1,900-mark on foreign investors‘ return

Korea’s benchmark Kospi rose 3.1 percent, recovering past the 1,900 mark Friday as investors went mining higher-risk stocks on hope of curving the peak of the novel coronavirus with a drug developed for ebola virus treatment.  The local currency closed at 1,217.90 won against the US dollar, strengthening 10.80 won from the previous session’s close.  The benchmark bourse Kospi opened slightly up, at 1,893.31 -- rising 44.15 points, or 2.38 percent, from the previous sess

MarketApril 17, 2020

‘BOK’s latest loan program to help brokerages avoid worst-case scenario’

South Korea’s central bank’s unprecedented decision to extend loans to brokerages and other nonbanking institutions will help them avoid the worst amid an economic crisis brought on by the novel coronavirus, experts said Friday. The Bank of Korea announced Thursday that it planned to launch a special loan program worth 10 trillion won ($8.1 billion), which would allow local banks, brokerages and insurers to borrow funds for up to six months against collateral from the central bank

EconomyApril 17, 2020

Govt. to announce measures to prop up sluggish job market

With the real economy facing the full impact of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the South Korean government is rolling up its sleeves to boost the nation’s job market. At a meeting with economy-related ministers, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday that the government would roll out a set of support measures for the job market next week. “The government will announce a package of measures to stabilize employment in South Korea after talking closely with related ministries and

MarketApril 17, 2020

SK E&S sells entire stake in China Gas Holdings

SK E&S has sold its entire stake in a Chinese private gas company to prevent a liquidity crisis as demand in the energy market plunged since the global coronavirus pandemic. The energy unit of SK Group said it sold all of its 10.25 percent stake (535 million shares) in China Gas Holdings through a block deal on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the previous day in a regulatory filing Friday. The sale price was 1.8 trillion won ($1.4 billion), 11.1 percent off the closing price of the contra

IndustryApril 17, 2020

Global chip capex forecast to drop 3% this year

Capital spending by global chipmakers is expected to dip 3 percent on-year to $99 billion in 2020, with the industry remaining unscathed by the coronavirus outbreak so far, a market tracker said Friday. The expected decline comes after capital expenditures by Samsung Electronics Co. and other heavyweights fell 3 percent last year, the first on-year drop since 2015, according to IC Insights. Capex by three memory majors -- industry leader Samsung, No. 2 player SK hynix Inc. and US chipmaker Mi

TechnologyApril 17, 2020

Hyundai Motor provides Paju human resources center for entrants from overseas

Hyundai Motor is set to provide about 60 rooms in its human resources development center in Paju as temporary quarantine lodgings for people entering South Korea, the automaker said Friday. The facilities are places where people who enter the country without symptoms can stay until they are notified of the results of coronavirus tests. The company will also provide outdoor parking lots for the installation of test facilities. In March, Hyundai Motor Group provided two training centers in Gye

IndustryApril 17, 2020

Airlines to apply no fuel surcharges on all routes in May

As oil prices continue to fall, airlines will not impose fuel surcharges on international and domestic airline tickets issued in May, according to the industry Friday. Fuel surcharges are imposed in steps when the average value per gallon (3.785 liters) of Singapore’s jet fuel is 150 cents and over. From March 16 to Wednesday -- the period that determines fuel surcharges for international routes for May -- the average price of Singapore’s jet fuel was $27.60 per barrel and 65.72 c

MobilityApril 17, 2020

Apple to reopen Seoul store Saturday

Apple will reopen its Seoul store on Saturday, the company said Thursday. The branch, located in Garosugil in Gangnam-gu, will be the first store outside of China to reopen. Apple previously closed all stores outside of China amid the viral COVID-19 pandemic, and hundreds of Apple Stores around the globe remain closed. “South Korea has shown great progress during the spread of COVID-19 and we’re excited to announce the re-opening of Apple Garosugil. We look forward to seeing our

IndustryApril 17, 2020

ELS issuance plunges in Q1 amid coronavirus scare

Sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) in South Korea plummeted in the first quarter, as lingering coronavirus concerns in global stock markets slashed demand, data showed Friday. ELS products issued in January-March stood at 21 trillion won ($17.2 billion), down 38.8 percent from the previous quarter, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). ELS refers to hybrid debt securities whose returns are determined by the performance of underlying equities, including a stock

MarketApril 17, 2020

Seoul stocks open sharply higher on US gains

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Friday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 44.6 points, or 2.4 percent, to reach 1,901.67 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Thursday (local time), US stocks closed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average climbing 0.14 percent and the S&P 500 up 0.58 percent. The Nasdaq increased 1.66 percent. Large-cap shares on the Seoul bourse were trading in positive terrain. Top cap

MarketApril 17, 2020

Unsold duty-free items to be sold at regular stores: reports

The South Korean government is seeking to enable department stores and outlets to temporarily sell duty-free stores’ inventory to help the struggling operators, according to local news outlets on Friday. According to news reports, major duty-free operators in Korea, including Lotte, Shilla and Shinsegae, held a meeting last week with officials from the Korea Duty-Free Shops Association and the Korea Customs Service to discuss the sale of bonded goods. During the meeting, the duty-free

IndustryApril 17, 2020

S. Korea, China vow to broaden economic exchanges despite pandemic

South Korea and China agreed Friday to expand joint efforts to tackle the economic fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic and maintain the global supply chain. Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo held a videoconference with his Chinese counterpart Zhong Shan to discuss ways to expand their economic ties amid the challenging business environment sparked by the pandemic, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During the meeting, South Korea said its carmakers were able to promptl

EconomyApril 17, 2020

[Monitor] Gloomy Q1 for manufacturers, gloomier outlook

The market conditions and revenue for South Korea’s manufacturing industry in the first quarter deteriorated significantly from a year ago, with the prospects for the second quarter even more gloomy, a business survey index released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade showed. An index above 100 means an optimistic situation or outlook. The overall business downturn was apparent in all sectors including new industries (with BSI dropping 31 points on-year), informati

IndustryApril 17, 2020

NCSoft to purchase W800b property to build new headquarters

NCSoft has submitted a letter of intent to purchase a 800 billion-won property in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sources said Friday. A consortium led by the online games giant was the sole bidder for the property, which is a public parking lot. Kakao, a South Korean internet giant based in Pangyo, was known to have shown interest in the purchase. But the company made no action by the Thursday deadline. The city government is expected to choose NCSoft as its preferred bidder by June 5 and fin

IndustryApril 17, 2020

Coronavirus batters S. Korea's demand, employment, exports: finance ministry

The coronavirus pandemic has battered South Korea's domestic demand, job market and exports, with uncertainties from the highly contagious virus still expanding, the finance ministry said Friday. In a monthly report, called Green Book, the Ministry of Economy and Finance painted a bleaker picture of the economic impact from the virus pandemic compared with its March report. "With domestic consumption continuing to shrink, employment indices sharply declined and uncertainties surrounding

EconomyApril 17, 2020

Half of global pharmas in Korea downsize

Multinational pharmaceutical firms in South Korea are reducing their local workforce -- 48 percent companies slashed staff last year -- according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday. Data showed that 14 companies out of 29 foreign pharmas reduced the number of employees as they suffered lackluster business performances. Combined, however, the overall employment increased from the previous year’s 6,714 to 6,884, up 170. Sanofi-Aventis Korea was the biggest contributor to the

IndustryApril 17, 2020

S. Korea reports 1st job loss since 2009 over coronavirus pandemic

South Korea reported its first on-year job loss since 2009 in March as the coronavirus pandemic began inflicting damage on the job market, data showed Friday. The nation lost about 195,000 jobs last month, marking the sharpest monthly decline since May 2009, when it lost some 240,000 jobs, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point on-year, but the number of employed people fell to 26.6 million in March, according to the data compi

EconomyApril 17, 2020