Seoul shares up for 4th day on Fed chair's comment

South Korean stocks extended their winning streak to a fourth straight session Thursday, as US Federal Reserve chairman signaled a rate hike within market expectations amid soaring global commodity prices. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) added 43.56 points, or 1.61 percent, to close at 2,747.08 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 607 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($8.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering lo

MarketMarch 3, 2022

[Market Eye] Shinsegae-Lotte rivalry heads to winemaking

The old rivalry between Shinsegae and Lotte looks set to head to winemaking. The nation’s top two retail giants who also are the major importers of cheaper casual wines are gearing up to produce high-priced premium wines on their own. Shinsegae Property, the group’s property development arm, acquired US winery Shafer Vineyards for 299.6 billion won ($250.3 million) last month. The 80-hectare vineyard is known for luxury wines like Hillside Select, whose price tag is around 860,000

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

High oil prices deepens woes for air carriers

South Korea’s aviation industry is set to take another hit after years of pandemic losses, as oil prices are soaring amid the escalating Ukraine conflict, driving up their fuel prices and operating costs overall. According to the air industry on Thursday, Brent crude oil jumped $5.93 to $111.19 per barrel on Wednesday night, its highest level since July 2014. The reason behind the price increase is due to a high possibility that western countries including the US might impose sanctions

MobilityMarch 3, 2022

Coupang posts record sales, but also higher operating losses

South Korea’s e-commerce giant Coupang said Thursday that it posted $18.4 billion (22.1 trillion won) in sales last year, a record not just for the company, but also for a local e-commerce operator. The figure jumped 54 percent from a year ago. In the fourth quarter alone, its sales soared to $5 billion. Coupang said its record has surpassed the sales of the country’ top retailer Shinsegae and its subsidiaries -– Emart, SSG.com, eBay Korea, and G Market -– whose sale

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

Ukraine conflict poses unpredictable risks to Korean economy: official

SEJONG -- Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Thursday the Ukraine-Russia conflict could have a “long-term” negative effect on the South Korean economy, and that the extent of coming impacts is unpredictable at the current stage. During a task force meeting in Seoul, Lee said the uncertainty from the geopolitical risk has expanded in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as the international community continues to pile on sanctions against Russia. “It has gradua

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

Of 4 million sales goal, Kia wants green cars to fill in the half

Kia Motors, a sister company of Hyundai Motor, is aiming to sell 4 million vehicles globally by 2030, with half of them being eco-friendly models, the company said on Thursday. The carmaker will expand the portion of electric vehicles and hybrids in overall sales from the current 17 percent to 52 percent by 2030. For markets with state-supportive policies for EVs –- Korea, North America, Europe and China -- Kia said it will pull up its EV and hybrid sales portion up to 78 percent by 2030

MobilityMarch 3, 2022

Pokemon Bread stages strong comeback

Pokemon Bread, an iconic pastry series with kids of the 1990s, has been flying off the shelves since its return last week. Manufacturer SPC Samlip said Thursday, it had sold 1.5 million of the rolls over the previous week, six times more than the first week sales of the company’s average for a new product. The key to success lies in tapping into millennials’ nostalgic tendencies. Released in 1999, Pokemon Bread took the youth of the time by storm. The roll wasn’t the main

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

[MWC 2022] Korean telcos ready to set new standard in 5G network

BARCELONA, Spain -- South Korea is on course to become the first country in the world where its mobile carriers scale up its 5G network capacity to more than 100 MHz-bandwidth for a single operator. At the Mobile World Congress 2022 exhibitions, three network equipment suppliers -- Huawei Technologies, Ericsson-LG and Nokia -- unveiled the most recent updates of their 5G equipment. Representatives say these could help Korean telcos improve the quality of 5G delivery by doubling the bandwidth o

TechnologyMarch 3, 2022

Samsung Electronics memory chip fastest in the world

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that its next-generation memory chip set a world record on speed. According to the South Korean tech giant, its LPDDR5X memory chip operated at 7.5 gigabits per second, the fastest speed among memory chips in the market. Short for low power double data rate 5X, the LPDDR5X chip performed at the record speed on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon mobile platform. Unveiled in November, the chip was manufactured with 14-nanometer technology. Compared to the prev

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

[MWC 2022] LG U+ CEO pledges to export XR content to Middle East

BARCELONA, Spain -- LG U+ will export virtual reality content to Zain Group, a mobile carrier in the Middle East with more than 50 million users, in its effort to take initiative in the burgeoning global XR market. During a press conference held at the Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona on Wednesday, local time, LG U+ CEO Hwang Hyun-sik said the South Korean telco will aim to sell content to Zain Group, Oman’s No. 1 mobile carrier Omantel and Malaysia’s No. 3 player Celcom. &l

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

Disclosure rule violations more than halve in 2021

The number of regulatory disclosure rule violations by firms in South Korea more than halved in 2021 from a year earlier amid stepped-up efforts to protect investors from misleading or false information, data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service, there were 87 cases of regulatory filing rule violations last year, which involved a total of 73 listed and unlisted firms. The figure was sharply down from 193 violations a year earlier and marked the lowest sin

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

Online shopping up nearly 12% in Jan. amid COVID-19 pandemic

Online shopping in South Korea rose 11.5 percent in January from a year earlier, with the proportion of transactions via mobile devices reaching a record high, amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 16.54 trillion won ($13.74 billion) in January, compared with 14.84 trillion won recorded a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. But the figure marked a 7.1 percent fall from the previous month when the figu

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

Bank mortgage rates hit near 10-year high in Jan.

South Korean banks' mortgage rates hit the highest level in about 10 years in January amid rising borrowing costs, central bank data showed Thursday. Banks' mortgage loan rate averaged 3.85 percent per year in January, 0.22 percentage point higher from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It also marked the eighth consecutive month of on-month increase and the highest since April 2013. Mortgage rates have been on the rise as the BOK has hiked its policy rate in re

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

SK Telecom's AI service for visually impaired wins award at MWC 2022

South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom Co. said Thursday its artificial intelligence service designed to help the visually impaired has won an award at the world's largest mobile show in Barcelona. The wireless carrier said the AI-based virtual service co-developed with local social venture group Tuat has received an award for Best Use of Mobile for Accessibility & Inclusion at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022. The Sullivan Plus X NUGU applies both voice and visual-assistance AI to allow

TechnologyMarch 3, 2022

Samsung's presence in smartphone chipset market drops in Q4: report

Samsung Electronics Co.'s share in the smartphone chipset market dropped in the fourth quarter, research showed Thursday, amid efforts to restructure the company's smartphone portfolio strategy. The South Korean tech giant, which makes Exynos chipsets, accounted for four percent of the global shipments of smartphone application processor (AP) and system-on-chip (SoC) in the October-December period, down three percent from a year ago, according to a report from industry tracker Counterpoint Resea

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

Korea Shipbuilding wins W1.56tr ship orders

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday it has received 1.56 trillion won ($1.29 billion) worth of ship orders in Europe and Latin America. Korea Shipbuilding obtained orders to build three liquefied natural gas carriers by 2025 for a European shipper and to build six container ships by 2024 for a Latin American shipper, the company said in a statement. Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings has KSOE as a subholding company under its wing. KSOE has three affiliates -- H

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

KT signs MOU with Turkish telecom operator on 5G, AI services

KT Corp., a South Korean major wireless carrier, said Thursday it has signed a pact with a leading Turkish telecom operator for cooperation in 5G and artificial intelligence services. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 in Barcelona, the South Korean operator signed a memorandum of understanding with Turk Telekom to expand cooperation in robots, smart cities and self-driving cars based on 5G, big data and cloud services, the company said. "We plan to cooperate with Turk Telecom to devel

IndustryMarch 3, 2022

7 in 10 S. Koreans suffered income reduction amid pandemic: survey

Nearly seven in 10 South Koreans saw their income fall in the wake of COVID-19, a survey showed Thursday. In the online survey of 2,016 people aged 18 or above by the Korea Institute of Public Administration from Nov. 15-22, 68 percent said their average monthly income was lower in 2021 than in 2019 before the pandemic struck. Only 30 percent said their income rose, while the remaining 2 percent said it remains unchanged. Those who earned less lost 1.25 million won ($1,038) per month on average,

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

S. Korea says mobile phones, other consumer goods not under US' export curbs on Russia

Mobile phones, cars and other consumer goods are not subject to the United States' sweeping restrictions on exports to Russia, South Korea's trade ministry said Thursday. Last week, the US government announced the Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR) for "all of Russia" as part of its export controls to block Russia's access to global high-tech products and other major items, such as semiconductors, over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The measure calls on companies to receive a license

EconomyMarch 3, 2022

Seoul shares open higher on Fed chair's comment

South Korean stocks opened steeply higher Thursday, as US Federal Reserve chairman signaled a rate hike within market expectations amid soaring global commodity prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 25.41 points, or 0.94 percent, to trade at 2,728.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks rose after the overnight Wall Street stock rallies, after Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said rates would likely be hiked by only 25 basis points this month, although he

MarketMarch 3, 2022