Seoul shares close flat as investors take breather

Korean stocks closed almost flat on Thursday as investors stepped to the sidelines following a holiday and recent steep gains, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched up 0.95 points, or 0.05 percent, to 1,957.91. Trading volume was moderate at 426.1 million shares worth 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion), with gainers

Aug. 16, 2012

Iran, Korea's banks spar over won-based settlement accounts

Iran's central bank has threatened to close its Korean currency-based transaction settlement accounts opened at two South Korean banks following economic sanctions on the Islamic country, calling for higher deposit rates on the accounts, sources said Thursday.Iran has notified two local state-owned banks -- Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) -- of not using the Korean-currency accou

Aug. 16, 2012

Smoking ups ALS risk, alcohol lowers it

The risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was lower among alcohol drinkers than among abstainers, and higher in smokers, U.S. and European researchers say.Andrew Waterhouse of the University of California, Davis, and other members of the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research reviewed the paper and said the study, which it called well-done, involved almost 500 cases of ALS, or Lou Gehrig‘s disease.The reviewers said they were especially struck by the magnitude of the difference in ri

TechnologyAug. 16, 2012

Hanwha chairman draws 4 years in jail on embezzlement charges

Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 5.1 billion won ($4.5 million) by Seoul Western District Court on Thursday for embezzlement and other illegal financial activities. In January 2011, Kim was indicted without detention on charges of illegally making Hanwha Group subsidiaries guarantee payment for the 320 billion won debt held by companies he was op

IndustryAug. 16, 2012

Seoul shares open lower on auto falls

Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Thursday due mainly to falls in the auto sector, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 2.49 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,954.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Key automakers led the decline, with top player Hyundai Motor declining 0.8 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors losing 1.15 percent.Kumho Tire, Ko

Aug. 16, 2012

Korea's jobless rate falls to 3.1 percent in July

Korea's jobless rate edged down from a month earlier in July thanks to a rise in new jobs, especially for the young, a government report showed Thursday.The jobless rate came to 3.1 percent last month, down from 3.2 percent in June, according to the monthly report by Statistics Korea. The July figure also marks a drop of 0.2 percentage points from the same month last year.The drop was led by 470,0

Aug. 16, 2012

Unionists at Kumho Tire to stage indefinite strike

 The union at Kumho Tire, South Korea's second-biggest tire maker, said Wednesday that it has decided to stage an indefinite walkout after no headway was reached on a wage deal with management.The strike, scheduled to start Thursday, comes just two days after the union ended a month-long partial walkout by 3,100 workers to iron out wage and other outstanding differences.Sources said that some gain

Aug. 15, 2012

Concerns of global food crisis raised

Korea seeks measures to prevent food price risesConcerns are rising that the world may face a food crisis due to rising grain prices caused by drought and heat waves in the United States and Russia.According to the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization, its Cereal Price Index averaged 260 points in July, up 38 points (17 percent) from June and only 14 points below its all-time high (in nominal terms) of 274 points registered in April 2008. The severe deterioration of maize crop prospects in the U

Aug. 15, 2012

Near-zero growth predicted in Q3

Economic experts and foreign investment banks say annual economic growth of 3 percent is no longer attainable for Korea, with rising concerns of near-zero growth in the third quarter compared to three months ago.They say on-quarter growth in the three months to September is likely to be close to zero or even negative in the worst case as the eurozone fiscal crisis shows no sign of resolution and the global economic slowdown spreads to emerging economies such as China.Korea’s on-quarter gross dom

Aug. 15, 2012

Luxury goods sales surge 190% in 5 years

Global luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada saw their sales and net profit here surge over the past five years, buoyed by brisk sales irrespective of economic conditions.Ten major luxury brands posted 1.85 trillion ($1.6 billion) in sales overall in Korea in 2011, marking 190 percent growth from 648.9 billion won in 2006, according to Chaebul.com, a website tracking Korean conglomerate owners.Further, their net profit increased by more than 300 percent from 45.7 billion won in 2006 to 1

IndustryAug. 15, 2012

Korean car exports fall 10.4% in July

Korea’s car exports fell 10.4 percent in July from a year ago due to contracted demand in Europe stemming from the region’s debt crisis, a government report showed Wednesday.Overseas vehicle shipments reached 238,824 units last month, compared with 266,627 vehicles exported a year ago, according to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.The ministry said that sluggish exports to the debt-ridden European region led the decline, with shipments to Europe falling for six months in a row.Shi

MobilityAug. 15, 2012

Samsung witness says Apple saw his ‘tablet’ long before iPad

Apple Inc. saw a prototype for a tablet computer more than a decade before the iPad was released in 2010, according to a news technology developer called as a trial witness by Samsung Electronics Co. Videotaped testimony by Roger Fidler, who heads the digital publishing program at the University of Missouri, was shown Wednesday to the jury in Samsung’s multibillion-dollar intellectual property dispute with Apple over smartphones and tablets. Fidler said in a written declaration he started workin

TechnologyAug. 15, 2012

Foreign IBs split on export outlook

Foreign investment banks forecast different outlooks on Korea’s export growth in the second half of the year. According to Korea Center for International Finance, Bank of America, Merril Lynch and Standard Chartered Bank expected that there was little possibility that Korea’s exports will drop again as the world economy was gradually recovering. According to the Bank of Korea, the nation’s exports in July marked $44.6 billion, the biggest drop in the past 33 months. The trade surplus was $2.7 bi

Aug. 15, 2012