Shares edge up on foreign buying

Korean stocks finished 0.6 percent higher Friday as foreign investors scooped up Seoul shares on economic optimism, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. Reversing its earlier fall, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 12.09 points to 2,019.89. Trading volume was heavy at 709 million shares worth 5.64 trillion won ($5.02 billion) with gainers leading losers 490 to 323. “In the morning, the KOSPI was dragged down by concerns over rising oil prices and wo

Feb. 24, 2012

Concrete supply to resume Saturday

A federation of ready-mixed concrete companies said Friday they will resume plant operations the next day, three days after stopping production over disagreements with builders and cement suppliers on concrete pricing.Some 750 manufacturers of premixed concrete across the country halted their supply on Wednesday, prompting the government to intervene as the lack of concrete led to setbacks at construction sites.“The Ministry of Knowledge Economy requested that we resume supply to keep the situat

IndustryFeb. 24, 2012

POSCO to pay W4b to founder’s family

POSCO said Friday it will pay 4 billion won in rewards to the bereaved family of the steelmaker’s founder Park Tae-joon, who passed away in December.POSCO’s board of directors agreed on the amount based on company standards for severance pay for longtime employees, the steelmaker said.“Honorary chairman Park devoted himself entirely to POSCO and the nation, and built the Pohang and Gwangyang steel mills with a distinguished leadership. We decided to offer special rewards in consideration of the

IndustryFeb. 24, 2012

Samsung to build new R&D center for parts

Samsung Electronics said Friday that it plans to establish a research center for subparts in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, by December next year.The new research center will bring together about 15 of its subpart research labs ― including semiconductor, memory and LSI research centers ― which are each located in different areas.The comprehensive complex, which broke ground earlier in November last year, is expected to be built on 50,000 square meters of lot area and 330,000 square meters of gross

IndustryFeb. 24, 2012

Consumers’ inflation expectations dip in Feb.

Korean consumers’ inflation expectations eased slightly in February from the previous month, the Bank of Korea said Friday.South Korean consumers expect inflation in Asia’s fourth-largest economy to reach a yearly average of 4 percent over the next 12 months, according to a survey by the BOK. In January, the median expectation for the inflation rate stood at 4.1 percent.The February reading was slightly lower than the previous month’s data, but inflation expectations failed to fall below the 4 p

Feb. 24, 2012

Household income disparity widened in 2011: report

The income disparity between the rich and the poor in Korea widened last year as the proportion of the middle class shrank, data showed Friday. According to the report by Statistics Korea, Gini’s coefficient, the indicator showing the income gap between the wealthy and the poor, stood at 0.311 in 2011, up from 0.310 a year earlier, suggesting the equality level for income distribution worsened. Another indicator ― the market income ratio that compares the upper 20 percent and the lower 20 percen

Feb. 24, 2012

Korea targets $13b in foreign investment

The Seoul government said Friday it will step up investor relations and focus on attracting projects with major employment plans this year, targeting $13 billion in foreign investment.Foreign direct investment in Korea reached $13.67 billion last year.“The Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, which goes into effect on March 15, will be a good opportunity to not only raise the competitiveness of our exports to the U.S., but also to make Korea a more attractive place for foreign investment,” Knowledge

Feb. 24, 2012

Korean won expected to strengthen further

Solid fundamentals, foreign investors’ bond purchases boost value of the local currencyThe Korean won stays strong amid a flurry of reports that its value might go up further on the strength of foreign investors opting for Korean bonds. The local currency strengthened 2.5 percent as of Feb. 24 from of January against the U.S. dollar, outpacing the euro (0.9 percent) and the Japanese yen (1.8 percent), according to the Bank of Korea. HSBC said in a recent report that the Korean won is likely to f

Feb. 24, 2012

Over 80% of adults hold credit cards

More than eight in every 10 adults in Korea own at least one credit card, a poll showed Friday, indicating plastic money has become the main means of settlement in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.According to the survey of 2,000 people aged 20-70 by the Korea Consumer Agency, 1,647 respondents, or 82.4 percent said they have at least one credit card.Of the tallied holders, 24 percent answered they have only one credit card, with the percentage for those with two and three standing at 30.7 percent

Feb. 24, 2012

Study: Clouds losing altitude globally

Researchers say the sky is falling, after a fashion, as data from a U.S. satellite show clouds around the world are losing altitude.If future observations confirm that as a trend, it could have an important effect on global climate change, they said.“We don’t know exactly what causes the cloud heigh

TechnologyFeb. 24, 2012

J&J recalls Tylenol over bottle problems

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) ― Recall-plagued Johnson & Johnson is pulling all infant Tylenol off the U.S. market because some parents have had problems with redesigned bottles, introduced three months ago, that the company touted as a big safety improvement to make measuring doses easier.Instead, 17 parents or caregivers have complained that a protective cover on the top of the bottles didn’t work correctly. It’s meant to limit how much of the liquid pain and fever reducer can be drawn into a plast

TechnologyFeb. 23, 2012