Seoul stocks open lower on looming resurgence of virus cases

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday tracking overnight losses on the Wall Street amid the growing concerns over a resurgence of the new coronavirus around the globe. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.45 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,926.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.45 percent on Monday (local time) while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.78 percent, as investors sat on the sidelines over the COVID-19

MarketMay 12, 2020

FTC to finalize penalty against Mirae Asset over intra-unit trading

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog is set to decide this month what sanctions to impose against conglomerates whose affiliates carried out illegal business transactions with each other, according to news reports Monday. Under the fair trade law, internal trading among affiliates of large companies controlled by owner families is banned as chaebol scions have benefited from such practices at the expense of fair competition. The list of companies subject to penalties by the Fair Trade Co

MarketMay 11, 2020

Mirae Asset to countersue China’s Anbang in hotel deal dispute

South Korea’s investment firm Mirae Asset Global Investments said Monday that it would countersue China’s Anbang Insurance Group in a widening dispute over an acquisition deal of luxury hotels in the US. The legal action came after the Chinese insurer last month filed a suit with the Delaware Court of Chancery against the Seoul-based investment management firm for failing to complete payment of $5.8 billion for the takeover of 15 luxury hotels in the US. The first trial is set to

MarketMay 11, 2020

Doosan in talks to sell HQ building for W700b

Debt-ridden Doosan Group is in talks to sell its real estate asset Doosan Tower to Mastern Investment Management for roughly 700 billion won ($572.3 million), according to industry sources. Doosan and Mastern are said to be at the final stage to confirm the price of the commercial building located in Seoul, which the troubled conglomerate has been using as the headquarters of its holding company for over two decades. Doosan looks to sell the asset and lease it back from the proposed buyer Maste

MarketMay 11, 2020

Flush with cash, retail investors’ stock market influence grows

South Korean retail investors are exerting greater influence on the nation’s stock market with 47.8 trillion won ($39.35 billion) amassed in cash, seeking short-term profit, data showed Monday. According to the Korea Exchange, individual investors purchased a net 30.76 trillion won in shares -- 26.09 trillion won on the benchmark Kospi and 4.67 trillion won in the tech-heavy Kosdaq market -- from Jan. 2 to Friday. The figure is in sharp contrast from the same period last year when ind

MarketMay 11, 2020

Korea’s environment-monitoring satellite sends first images

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Monday revealed photographs and videos sent from the nation’s environment-monitoring satellite Chollian 2B. Chollian 2B is South Korea’s geostationary satellite. Launched on Feb. 19, it reached its designated orbit in March and currently sits in an orbital band above the Korean Peninsula. The latest images and videos sent from the satellite showed land and water in the Northeast Asian region, taken during camera tests between April 21 and 22. &

TechnologyMay 11, 2020

DreamCIS likely to reopen Korea’s IPO market

South Korea is likely to end its monthslong drought in the initial public offering scene with Seoul-based pharmaceutical services company DreamCIS moving to raise 20.2 billion won ($16.5 million). DreamCIS, a company that provides contract-based research services to pharmaceutical and health care firms, said Monday it has fixed its offer price at 14,900 won per share, at the higher end of the price band. Its two-day institutional portion until Friday was 926.11 times oversubscribed. The compan

MarketMay 11, 2020

Korea’s outstanding sovereign, state-backed bonds near W1,100tr

The outstanding amount of government and state-backed bonds increased by a combined 78.3 trillion won from the end of last year to a record high of 1,098.4 trillion won ($900 billion), data showed Monday, with the accelerating growth rate spurring concerns. Outstanding sovereign bonds increased by 65.7 trillion won to 753.5 trillion won and special bonds gained 12.6 trillion won to 344.9 trillion won, respectively, from the end of last year to Friday, data from the Korea Financial Investment

EconomyMay 11, 2020

[Time to Play] Valorant, Riot Games’ unoriginal but surprisingly fun FPS game

Yes, Riot Games’ Valorant is a new game. But is it original? Certainly not. The soon-to-be released first-person shooter game seems like a mishmash of everything users have seen before -- the graphics of Team Fortress 2, the effects of Paladins, the gameplay of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the gun sounds of Sudden Attack and skills that recall Overwatch and Apex Legends. Though it’s undeniable that Valorant was “inspired” by other FPS titles, the game itself is

IndustryMay 11, 2020

Korea’s spending for unemployment allowances approaches W1tr in April

South Korea’s monthly spending for supporting unemployed workers hit another all-time high in April, as the fallout from the novel coronavirus is hampering efforts to remedy the damage done to the job market, data showed Monday. In April, when Korea’s virus spread peaked, the amount of unemployment benefits came to 993.3 billion won ($814.3 million), up 35 percent on-year, according to preliminary data from the Labor Ministry. This extended the record streak for the third consecuti

EconomyMay 11, 2020

Seoul stocks down over looming uptick in virus cases

South Korean stocks closed lower Monday to pare earlier gains due to growing concerns over another cluster infection. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid 10.42 points, or 0.54 percent, to finish at 1,935.40. Trading volume was moderate at 581 million shares worth 7.6 trillion won ($6.23 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 529 to 316. After opening higher, local shares slipped into negative terrain on growing concerns over

MarketMay 11, 2020

S. Korea opens financial data exchange

South Korea on Monday opened its first exchange for financial data, the financial regulator said, in a move that could boost the data-driven economy. The exchange will serve as a key platform for buyers and sellers of financial, telecommunication and corporate data. It is meant to facilitate financial big data, according to the Financial Services Commission. "The government will ensure that the financial data exchange will take root as an innovative infrastructure of financial companie

EconomyMay 11, 2020

Korean Air to decide on W1tr stock offerings this week: sources

Korean Air Lines Co. will decide this week on whether to sell 1 trillion won ($820 million) worth of stocks as part of self-help measures amid the growing coronavirus impact on the airline sector, industry sources said Monday. Korean Air plans to hold a board meeting Wednesday to determine the exact size and the schedule of the rights issue, an airline official told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. Shareholders of the country's biggest carrier will be given the rights to buy the stocks to

EconomyMay 11, 2020

Biz group calls on lawmakers to promptly pass economic bills

South Korean entrepreneurs have called on lawmakers to promptly pass nine economy-related bills as the term of the current National Assembly ends this month. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the largest business lobby group here, said Monday that it delivered a report on economic legislation to the National Assembly, including the floor leaders of the main political parties and relevant standing committees. The report called for the passage of nine bills urgently needed to overcome

IndustryMay 11, 2020

Volvo Cars Korea, SKT team up to develop infotainment system

Volvo Cars Korea said Monday that it has joined hands with SK Telecom to develop a next-generation infotainment system suitable for South Korean customers. The two sides have signed a contract to develop the system to offer Volvo customers here with a customized infotainment system, which would work as a basis for providing connected services, Volvo Cars Korea said. The automaker aims to gradually apply the next-generation infotainment system to some models launched in Korea from 2022. The n

MobilityMay 11, 2020

Hyundai Motor Group establishes ‘nontact’ IT development platform

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that it had established a “nontact” -- or non face-to-face -- IT development platform for software and program development tools amid increasing worldwide efforts to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The automaker said the new platform had been applied with a cloud system which allows connections from outside for software development and using the infrastructure and program development tools.  The group’s IT subsidiary Hyundai Au

MobilityMay 11, 2020

SK Holdings leads Hummingbird Bioscience’s $6.5m Series B extension funding

SK Holdings said Monday it is the lead investor in Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience’s $6.5 million Series B extension funding round. Hummingbird Bioscience, founded in 2015 in Singapore by former members of global pharma giant Sanofi, researches for novel antibody drugs. Antibody drugs are immunoproteins that selectively dock on, and attack, malignant proteins that become seeds for tumors and diseases. Hummingbird Bioscience is specially armed with a platform technology called Rat

IndustryMay 11, 2020

Samsung Electronics investors grow 5 times after stock split

The number of investors holding Samsung Electronics shares surged more than five times after the company divided the face value of stocks two years ago, data showed Sunday. According to data filed by the Financial Supervisory Service, common shares issued by Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest chipmaker, were held by more than 1.36 million investors in the first quarter, a 565 percent increase from the same quarter two years ago, with 241,513 investors. Stocks worth 1.25 trillion w

MarketMay 11, 2020

Online applications for virus relief money begin

An online application for the government's emergency coronavirus relief funds to all households began on Monday morning. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said nine local credit card companies started receiving online applications through their websites or mobile phone applications. The application is available, first, for those who wish to receive the financial aid in the forms of credit or debit card points, which is scheduled to arrive two days after the application. For the first w

EconomyMay 11, 2020

[Monitor] Service industry in Jeju hit hardest by COVID-19

Production and sales in the service industry in Jeju during the first quarter of the year saw a two-digit rate of decline due to the coronavirus pandemic, data from Statistics Korea showed. Fifteen other regions also saw significant drops in their sales. Only Seoul saw its production rise. In Jeju, the drop in travelers led to a 47 percent drop in sales at duty free shops. Only South Jeolla Province, which do not have major department stores or duty free shops, saw a slight rise in retail sal

IndustryMay 11, 2020