Seoul shares up for 6th day on speculation over less-aggressive US rate hikes

Seoul shares closed higher Monday amid speculation a second straight quarterly US contraction may cause the Fed to become less aggressive in raising rates. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.75 point, or 0.03 percent, from the previous session to close at 2,451.5 points, extending its winning streak to the sixth day. Trading volume was moderate at 480.94 million shares worth 7.4 trillion won ($5.7 billion), with gainers outnu

MarketAug. 1, 2022

Power demand hits record high amid heat wave

Sizzling temperatures that hit the country last month led to record-breaking electricity demand, data showed Monday. According to Korea Power Exchange, the country’s average maximum power demand stood at 82,007 megawatts last month, up 1.0 percent on-year -- the highest since records began in June 2005. The sudden surge of power consumption resulted from many households and buildings turning up the air conditioning due to the scorching heat wave and tropical nights across the nation thro

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

Revision seeks to allow battery subscription for EVs

The South Korean government said Monday that it would revise the law to allow battery subscription services for electric vehicles, a move that is expected to pull down EV prices almost one-third from their current price tag and lower entry barriers for potential buyers.  The Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure said that a 36-member regulatory reform committee held a meeting on Thursday to approve the planned revision. The current law on vehicle registration does not allow two

MobilityAug. 1, 2022

S. Korea’s accumulative trade deficit hits 66-year high

SEJONG -- South Korea posted a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month in the wake of a noteworthy decline in exports to China as well as the spiraling import prices of raw materials, with the cumulative deficit for the first seven months of the year hitting the highest in 66 years. In particular, the nation recorded all-time high imports in July due to a spike in energy prices, which has worsened the trade balance, state data showed Monday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry

EconomyAug. 1, 2022

Samsung publishes paper on artificial muscle actuators for VR devices

Samsung Electronics said Monday its joint research team with Ajou University published a paper last month on the wider adoption of artificial muscle actuators for wearables in Nature Communications, an online publisher affiliated with Nature, the science journal. The paper, titled “Actuating Compact Wearable Augmented Reality Devices by Multifunctional Artificial Muscle,” was recognized for expanding the use of artificial muscle actuators in robotics to the field of smaller wearabl

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

Hyundai Motor unveils smart city vision in Singapore

Hyundai Motor Group on Monday unveiled its vision for smart city at the World Cities Summit in Singapore, with an aim to offer a blueprint for smart mobility solutions that revitalize urban communities.  During a panel discussion at the biannual summit, the automaker’s President and Chief Innovation Officer Chi Young-cho offered a detailed look into the company’s vision for human-focused city design through its HMG Smart City concept. The company first unveiled such vision for

MobilityAug. 1, 2022

LG Chem looks to begin final stage of clinical trials for gout drug with FDA

LG Chem has applied for phase 3 clinical trials of its gout treatment candidate Tigulixostat with the US Food and Drug Administration, the South Korean company said Monday. If the application gets the go-ahead sign from the FDA, it will mark the first time for LG Chem to carry out phase 3 clinical trials of its self-developed new drug candidate globally including in the US, according to the company. Gout is a painful form of arthritis that is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, sw

TechnologyAug. 1, 2022

SK Bioscience eyes Europe as market for COVID-19 vaccine

SK Bioscience has submitted the application for conditional approval of the COVID-19 vaccine SKY Covione with the European Medicines Agency in efforts to expand its presence in the global market, the South Korean vaccine developer said Monday. Beginning with the European region, SK Bioscience said it will look to showcase the South Korean COVID-19 vaccine on the global stage as the size of the coronavirus vaccine market grows rapidly. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Ministry gav

TechnologyAug. 1, 2022

SK hynix to mass-produce CXL memory chips from 2023

South Korean memory chip maker SK hynix said Monday it has sampled the first memory product under the compute express link memory interface, a concept considered a game-changer in the electronics industry that is facing memory storage bottleneck. The announcement heralds SK hynix‘s long-awaited move to enter the market and roll out expandable CXL memory products for servers by 2023, according to the world’s second-largest DRAM chip maker. CXL is a newly-emerging semiconductor stand

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

SK Geo Centric, Tokuyama to build plant for wafer washing agent

South Korean petrochemical firm SK Geo Centric has started construction on a facility to produce semiconductor wafer surface washing material with Tokyo-based chemical firm Tokuyama in Ulsan, a city some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the company announced Monday. SK Geo Centric aims to produce some 30,000 tons of semiconductor-grade high-purity isopropyl alcohol each year through a 50:50 joint venture with Tokuyama called Stac beginning in 2024. Isopropyl alcohol is the material used to c

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

Starbucks tops most preferred coffee chain in S. Korea: survey

Starbucks topped the list of the most preferred specialty coffee chains in South Korea, according to a recent survey published by the Korea Consumer Agency on Monday. In the survey, conducted between April 7 and 15, a total of 1,400 adults were requested to rate seven coffeehouses based on consumer satisfaction and frequency of use. Starbucks scored the highest at 3.99 points out of the total 5, followed by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with 3.93 points and Hollys Coffee with 3.92 points.

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

F&F Q2 net income up 118% to W69.2b

F&F Co. on Monday reported its second-quarter net income of 69.2 billion won ($53 million), up 118 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 95 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 43.2 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 88.4 percent to 371.4 billion won. The operating profit was 9.2 percent higher than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

Pan Ocean Q2 net profit up 146.8% to W224.8b

Pan Ocean Co., South Korea's leading bulk carrier, said Monday its second-quarter net profit rose nearly 2.5-fold from a year earlier on high freight rates. Net profit came to 224.8 billion won ($172.2 million) in the April-June period, up 146.8 percent from a year earlier, the shipper said in a regulatory filing. Sales jumped 52.4 percent on-year to 1.72 trillion won, with operating profit spiking 113.2 percent to 238.8 billion won. Pan Ocean's second-quarter earnings well exceeded ma

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

BOK sees small incremental rate increases as 'appropriate'

South Korea's central bank said Monday it is "appropriate" to raise its key interest rate in small increments going forward as long as inflation and growth trends do not deviate much from the expected paths. The Bank of Korea (BOK) provided the broad guidance on the future trajectory of monetary policy in a report to the National Assembly after it delivered an unprecedented 0.5 percentage-point rate increase last month to rein in surging inflation. It was the sixth rate hike since

EconomyAug. 1, 2022

[Graphic News] Vehicle registrations rise 0.6% in Q2 despite chip shortage

　The number of registered vehicles in South Korea rose 0.6 percent in the second quarter to over 25 million, with that of eco-friendly cars exceeding 1.36 million units, government data showed. 　Car registrations came to 25.22 million units as of end-June, up from 25.07 million units a quarter earlier despite a global chip shortage, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. 　Global carmakers have been struggling with the lack of semiconductor parts since late 202

BusinessAug. 1, 2022

Seoul shares open lower as tech stocks decline

South Korean shares opened lower Monday on a decline in major tech stocks amid global recession woes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.14 points, or 0.33 percent, to trade at 2,443.36 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Eyes are on whether the Federal Reserve will become less aggressive in raising rates following an aggressive 0.75-percentage point hike in the benchmark interest rates. Institutions and foreigners sold a combined 132 billion won worth of stock

MarketAug. 1, 2022

SK, Tokuyama start off construction for semiconductor cleaning agent plant in S. Korea

SK Geocentric Co., a chemical unit of South Korea's SK Group, said Monday the construction began for the joint factory with Japan's Tokuyama Corp. to produce a high-purity cleaning agent for semiconductors. SK Geocentric CEO Na Kyung-soo, Hiroshi Yokota, president of Tokuyama, and other officials attended the groundbreaking ceremony that took place in the South Korean industrial city of Ulsan, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where SK runs its key chemical manufacturing complex

IndustryAug. 1, 2022

Exports up 9.4% in July; trade deficit extended for 4th month

South Korea suffered a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month in July over high global energy prices, though its exports rose 9.4 percent on-year on solid demand for chips, data showed Monday. Outbound shipments stood at $60.7 billion last month, up from $55.5 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It is the highest tally for any July since 1956, when the ministry began compiling related data. The previous record was set a ye

EconomyAug. 1, 2022

FTC puts off plan to hold foreign CEO more responsible

South Korea’s antitrust regulator has decided to put a brake on its plan to hold foreign business leaders of large corporations here amid looming concerns it could trigger a trade dispute with the US. According to multiple sources at the government and local reports, the Fair Trade Commission has canceled its plan to make a preliminary announcement next week on the revision of the enforcement decree of the monopoly regulation and fair trade act that aimed at designating foreigners as the

IndustryJuly 31, 2022

[Market Eye] Will Samsung make cars again?

“Will Samsung make cars again?” is a decades-old question that has dogged the tech giant since it sold off its automotive business to France’s Renault Group during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. Samsung has seen success in almost every sector it set sights on, but making and selling its own brand cars has remained a rare failure for the nation’s largest conglomerate. Despite repeated denials by the top brass, speculation has resurfaced about Samsun

TechnologyJuly 31, 2022