South Korean stocks ended 0.32 percent higher on Wednesday, buoyed by firm gains in major technology companies, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 6.39 points to 1,999.73. Trading volume was moderate at 347.4 million shares worth 3.42 trillion won ($2.12 billion), with gainers outnumbering decliners 444 to 350.“There’s optimism out there on global liquidity and economic data have also been supporting this,” said Wo

March 13, 2013

Lotte Mart Co., South Korea’s third-largest discount store chain, said Wednesday that it will start a car rental service this week in strategic partnership with CXC Motors, a local dealer of foreign cars.Lotte Mart will provide its car rental service at five stores including its Jamsil location in the southwestern part of Seoul and its online Lotte Mart Mall starting Thursday, the company said in a statement. The discount store chain will expand the number of stores that will provide the car ren

March 13, 2013

South Korea’s tax agency has launched an investigation into GM Korea Co., the local unit of U.S. General Motors Co., a company official said Wednesday.The GM Korea official claimed the probe by the National Tax Service is a regular one following a similar investigation in 2008.“We will cooperate with the tax probe in good faith,” the official, noting that there were no unfair business practices and the tax agency imposed no additional taxes on GM Korea after the 2008 investigation.The tax agency

March 13, 2013

LS Cable & System said Wednesday that it won a 200 billion won ($182 million) contract to supply 230kV extra- high-voltage undersea cables to Venezuela’s state-run power firm, Corpoelec, becoming the first Korean firm to enter the submarine cable market in South America.The company said the successful bid proved its capabilities as a general engineering company for submarine power cable systems. With the rising demand for electric power in South America boosting electric cable sales, LS C&S is e

March 13, 2013

A total of 67 percent of South Korean mobile subscribers used smartphones, surpassing usage rates in other major economies, data showed Wednesday.In a survey of 10 countries, South Korea had the highest rate of smartphone usage, surpassing China’s 66 percent and Australia’s 65 percent, according to the data from U.S. market researcher Nielsen.The figure was higher than 62 percent in Italy, 61 percent in Britain and 53 percent in the United States.South Korea also had one of the highest subscript

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

Samsung SDI Co. topped the global market for lithium-ion batteries for the third straight year in 2012, helped by growing demand for mobile devices, data showed Tuesday.The company shipped 1.07 billion cells last year, claiming 26 percent of the global lithium-ion battery market, according to the data by Japanese market researcher B3.One cell is generally used for batteries for smartphones or tablet PCs, while a larger number of cells are used for bigger batteries such as those for electric cars

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

SKC Inc., a South Korean industrial film maker, said Wednesday that it has decided to sell a stake in its Chinese polyester film plant to a Japanese maker of plastic film, as part of efforts to strengthen business cooperation.Toyobo Co. of Japan will hold a 15-percent stake in SKC High Tech Plastics Co. in China, becoming the third-largest shareholder after SKC and SKC China, the company said.SKC did not reveal the value of the deal.The PET film plant, located in the Chinese city of Nantong, Jia

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

Google Inc.’s software will power more tablets than Apple Inc.’s operating system for the first time this year as smaller, cheaper alternatives to the iPad gain favor with consumers, according to IDC.Devices running Google’s Android software will climb to 49 percent of the market in 2013, while Apple’s share will slip to 46 percent, IDC said in a statement Wednesday. Last year, Apple commanded 51 percent, compared with Google’s 46 percent.Machines introduced since the iPad’s debut in 2010 ― incl

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

Samsung Electronics Co. is making its biggest run yet at the iPhone’s U.S. loyalists, unveiling the new Galaxy S4 a few blocks from Apple Inc.’s flagship store in New York and broadcasting the event live in Times Square.The debut of Samsung’s marquee smartphone, which will be held at Radio City Music Hall tomorrow, lets Samsung bring the fight directly to Apple’s strongest market. The South Korean company is relying on an advertising blitz and cutting-edge features, potentially including a snazz

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

South Korean mobile operators ended lower on the Seoul main stock index on Wednesday following government remarks on tightening regulations on smartphone subsidies.During a briefing on President Park Geun-hye's first cabinet meeting, spokeswoman Kim Haing said the government is seeking to draw up measures to curb excessive subsidies involved in mobile phone sales.Top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. slipped 0.27 percent to 183,000 won, while No. 3 player LG Uplus Corp. lost 1.03 percent to 8,660 wo

March 13, 2013

A company involved in South Korea's largest-ever urban development project failed to pay back debts worth 5.9 billion won ($5.3 million), company officials said Wednesday, raising concerns over the collapse of the 30-trillion-won project.Yongsan Development Co., the asset manager of Dreamhub Project Financing Vehicle Co. which was created for the development project, was required to pay the debts of an interest of asset-backed commercial papers worth about 200 billion won, by 9 a.m. Wednesday, s

IndustryMarch 13, 2013

European scientists say they know why for some animal species it's fathers rather than mothers that take care of their young -- and it's all down to numbers.The role reversal in species such as sea horses and some others has evolved because of an imbalance in the numbers of males relative to females, the said.In 1871, Charles Darwin observed that in most animals, it is the females that spend most time looking after the young while males focus on competing with each other for females.However, in

TechnologyMarch 13, 2013

South Korea's jobless rate jumped in February from a month earlier and job creation also slowed sharply, raising worries that labor market conditions will remain bleak down the road, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 4 percent last month, up from the previous month's 3.4 percent. This is the highest ever since February last year when it was 4.2 percent.The jobless rate adjusted for inflation also rose to 3.5 percent from J

March 13, 2013