Seoul stocks snap 3-day losing streak on eased concerns over oil prices, rate hikes

South Korean stocks rebounded Wednesday on the back of a steep fall in oil prices, ending a three-day losing streak. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 37.70 points, or 1.44 percent, at 2,659.23 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 727 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won ($7.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 734 to 128. Institutions bought a net 365 billion won, while foreigners sold 133 billion won and r

MarketMarch 16, 2022

Toss Bank to pay daily deposit interest

Toss Bank, South Korea’s internet only bank, said Wednesday it will pay daily deposit interest to its customers for the first time in the banking industry. Toss Bank account owners can simply click on the “receive now” button to be paid with daily deposit interest, instead of receiving it monthly. With the service, users can withdraw their money including the deposit interest at any time they want. For instance, if customers deposit 1 million won ($805) into the account, the

MarketMarch 16, 2022

LG Innotek vows to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040

LG Innotek announced on Wednesday a set of plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The IT components maker said it will fulfill all of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2030, and reach a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions in 2040. Electricity accounts for more than 90 percent of LG Innotek’s greenhouse gas emissions. To meet its target, the company said it will introduce more solar power generation facilities to its domestic establishments, sign power p

BusinessMarch 16, 2022

Daewoo E&C CEO to put safety first

Baek Jung-wan, new chief of Daewoo Engineering & Construction, said Wednesday that he would make worker safety a top priority as the builder seeks a synergistic alliance with parent company Jungheung Group, whose acquisition was greenlighted a month ago. “We’ll focus on our social responsibilities and to do that, the life of our workers comes first,” Baek said at an inauguration ceremony. The builder recently named a chief safety officer to ensure its safety guidelines are

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

Hyundai Motor's Jakarta plant opens as part of SE Asia drive

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group opened its first Southeast Asian manufacturing plant in Indonesia on Wednesday, gearing up its drive to expand its presence in a region long dominated by Japanese rivals.  The plant, located in the Deltamas industrial complex 40 kilometers east of the capital city of Jakarta, has started mass production of Hyundai's flagship electric vehicle Ioniq 5, the first EV to be manufactured in the country, the carmaker said. It plans to invest 1.92 trillio

MobilityMarch 16, 2022

Samsung CEO apologizes for stifling phone performance

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman and co-CEO Han Jong-hee on Wednesday apologized over the escalating disputes surrounding performance issues of the tech giant’s latest flagship Galaxy S22. “We were unable to properly consider our consumer’s needs,” Han said as he bowed deep in apology in front of some 1,600 shareholders attending an annual general meeting both in-person and online. It was the first time that a top Samsung executive has offered an apology to the publi

TechnologyMarch 16, 2022

Keyeast to raise W1.3b via stock offering

Keyeast Co. on Wednesday announced that it will sell stocks to raise 1.3 billion won($1.1 million). The proceeds from the stock sale will be used mainly to finance its operations. According to a regulatory filing, the company will issue 104,773 common shares at a price of 12,466 won per share. The stocks will be sold to the investors that the firm designated. (Yonhap)

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

S. Korea's auto exports up 5.1% in February

South Korea's car exports expanded more than 5 percent in February on increased production capacity, despite a global shortage of automotive chips, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles stood at 167,682 units last month, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, auto exports also increased 9.1 percent on-year to US$3.84 billion last month. Industry watchers attributed the solid gain in exports

EconomyMarch 16, 2022

Banks' 2021 net profit jumps 40% amid rate hikes

Banks in South Korea saw their combined net profit surge about 40 percent in 2021 thanks to increased interest income from the central bank's rate hikes, data showed Wednesday. The combined net profit of 20 local banks came to 16.9 trillion won ($13.6 billion) in 2021, up 39.4 percent from 12.1 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The rise stemmed mostly from increased interest income in line with the central bank'

EconomyMarch 16, 2022

SK Siltron to spend W1tr on new 300mm wafer plant

SK Siltron, South Korea‘s sole silicon wafer maker for chips, plans to spend a combined 1.05 trillion won ($845.61 million) to build a new fab that manufactures 300-millimeter wafers in order to address a chip shortage due to wafer supply constraints, a filing showed Wednesday. With a board approval Tuesday, the key silicon wafer supplier to the country’s chip powerhouses Samsung Electronics and SK hynix aims to embark on the fab construction in the first half at a 42,716 square-me

TechnologyMarch 16, 2022

15 chicken-processing firms fined W176b for price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has decided to impose a combined fine of 175.8 billion won ($141.4 million) on 15 poultry-processing companies for colluding to fix prices. Sixteen companies, including industry leader Harim Co. and Orpum Co., colluded to fix prices and supplies of chickens on 45 occasions between November 2005 and July 2017, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). The companies held a combined share of more than 77 percent in the market and their 12-year

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

Airlines to sharply hike fuel surcharges on int'l routes in April

South Korean airlines are set to sharply raise fuel surcharges on international routes in April due to soaring jet fuel prices, industry sources said Wednesday. Starting April 1, the surcharge for one-way tickets on international routes will range from 28,600 won ($23) to 211,900 won, depending on the routes, according to them. The planned increase will raise the surcharges to the highest Level 14 from the current Level 10, which ranges from 18,000 won to 138,200 won. In April 2021, rising jet f

EconomyMarch 16, 2022

Renault drops Samsung's brand from new name of S. Korean operations

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., said Wednesday it has dropped the Samsung brand from its new company name as the deal with the South Korean conglomerate over the brand's use ends in August. Starting Wednesday, the company will use the new name of Renault Korea Motors while pushing ahead with the procedure to change the corporate name by August, a company spokesman said over the phone. From January to February, its vehicle sales jumped 84 percent to 24,82

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from a plunge in oil prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 18.55 points, or 0.71 percent, to trade at 2,640.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 2.92 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.8 percent, largely as oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel amid talks between Russia and Ukraine. Inves

MarketMarch 16, 2022

Job growth extended for 12th month in Feb. amid economic recovery

The number of employed people in South Korea increased by more than 1 million on-year for the second straight month in February due to a low base effect and the economic recovery, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 27.4 million last month, up 1.04 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 1.14 million in January, the largest in almost 22 years, but the number of employed people grew m

EconomyMarch 16, 2022

Grain import prices soar 47% over 2 years

South Korea's import prices of grains have jumped nearly 50 percent over the past two years to a near nine-year high amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Prices of imported grains came to $386 per ton in February, up 26 percent from a year earlier and 47.4 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. The February per-ton import price represented the highest level since it reached $388 in May 2013. Last month

EconomyMarch 16, 2022

Air Busan expands flights to Saipan amid vaccinations

Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Wednesday it has expanded flights on the Busan-Saipan route to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand amid rising vaccinations and eased virus curbs. On Jan. 23, Air Busan began to offer one flight per week on the Saipan route following a travel bubble agreement with Saipan, a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases. Starting Wednesday, the low-cost c

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

6 companies to recall over 92,000 vehicles over faulty parts

Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp. and four other companies will voluntarily recall more than 92,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Wednesday. These are the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea due to problems with vehicle components. The six firms, including Ford Sales Service Korea and Porsche Korea, are recalling a combined 92,450 units of 12 different models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The p

IndustryMarch 16, 2022

Gen MZ in heavier debt than people at same age in 2000

Young Koreans born between 1980 and 1995, called “Gen MZ” to refer to both millennials and Generation Z, earned a little more but faced bigger debt in 2018 than people at the same age in 2000, the Bank of Korea said in a report. In 2018, Gen MZ -- aged between 23 and 38 -- earned 1.4 times more than what was earned by the same-age peers in 2000. But debts were 4.3 times greater in 2018 than 2000 among people who were identified as Gen MZ at the time. Meanwhile, &ldqu

EconomyMarch 15, 2022

[Test Drive] Volvo C40 Recharge: Sporty, fun but pricey

Simple but sporty is how Volvo’s first all-electric SUV Coupe, the C40 Recharge, can be best described. The first impression of C40 Recharge is that it looks very similar to the brand’s first pure electric compact SUV XC40 Recharge, both from the outside and inside. But on a closer look, the C40 Recharge design has added a spoonful of sportiness. Volvo got rid of XC40’s roof and instead, it let the roof line slip toward the back to make it more aerodynamic and energy efficie

MobilityMarch 15, 2022