Seoul stocks open lower on virus worries

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday, largely as investors wondered how the omicron variant of the coronavirus would affect the global economic reopening. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 21.9 points, or 0.75 percent, to 2,914.54 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. South Korea reported 3,309 new COVID-19 cases Monday, none of which have been confirmed as an infection from the omicron variant. Most sectors traded lower, except vaccine-related bio and medic

MarketNov. 29, 2021

Nearly half of hospitality firms marginal in 2020 amid pandemic: report

Nearly half of South Korean hospitality companies were unable to service their debts with earnings in 2020 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Monday. The report from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the lobby for South Korea's family-controlled conglomerates, showed 45.4 percent of firms in the local hospitality industry had an interest coverage ratio below 1 last year. The figure is up 11.3 percentage points from 2018, indicating those companies have been hit h

EconomyNov. 29, 2021

LG Energy Solution lays out new funding plan for Michigan plant

LG Energy Solution, the batteries unit of LG Group, has laid out a new $1.36 billion funding plan to drastically ramp up the capacity of its plant in the US state of Michigan in the next three years. In a regulatory filing Friday, parent company LG Chem said LG Energy Solution's Michigan arm will raise $681 million in fresh capital without rights to add new production facilities to the Michigan plant, while securing the remaining $681 million from local borrowing. The new funding aims t

TechnologyNov. 28, 2021

Samsung ranks No. 1 in US high-end projector market

Samsung Electronics said Sunday that it ranked No. 1 in the premium home cinema projector market in the United States, a year after the electronics giant entered the market with its flagship The Premiere lineup. Samsung Electronics’ high-end projectors priced at $3,000 or more accounted for 27.8 percent of the US market by sales from January to October, the company said, citing an estimate from US market intelligence firm NPD Group. In particular, Samsung’s focus on ultrashort th

TechnologyNov. 28, 2021

Hyundai Motor reclaims No. 2 spot in Australian car sales

Hyundai Motor has reclaimed the No. 2 spot in Australian car sales, with its October car sales outpacing those of American rival Ford and Japanese rival Mazda, according to the latest data compiled by the market tracker BestSellingCarsBlog.com on Sunday. Hyundai sold around 6,200 vehicles in October in Australia, a 3 percent increase from a year prior. For the January-October period this year, its cumulative car sales reached 61,000 vehicles, up almost 10,000 vehicles from the same period last

IndustryNov. 28, 2021

National pension is a mess no one wants to fix

Lee Hyeong-seok, 75, remembers when the national pension scheme was first introduced back in late 1980s as a state-backed insurance plan for post-retirement life. He and his friends, then in their early 40s, were initially unconvinced. At that time, bank savings carried interest rates of well over 10 percent. What’s the point in chipping in a handsome amount of one’s monthly salary to the fledgling pension fund? But persistent persuasion by a National Pension Service official led

EconomyNov. 28, 2021

[Photo News] At full throttle

An LG Electronics worker is busy manufacturing washing machines ahead of a year-end spending spree at the firm’s factory in Clarksville, Tennessee, Friday.  The company’s lines of key products such as washing machines and refrigerators are running full throttle 24/7 to meet soaring year-end demand in the market. (Yonhap)

IndustryNov. 28, 2021

Brokerages' Q3 net up 10.5% on increased investment gains

South Korean brokerage firms saw their combined net profits rise 10.5 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, due to increased income from their proprietary trading, data showed Sunday. The combined net profit of 58 brokerages stood at 2.52 trillion won ($2.1 billion) in the July-September period, compared with 2.28 trillion won three months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The gain was mainly driven by profits from proprietary trading, tra

EconomyNov. 28, 2021

S. Korea's exports of farm, fishery products top $10b this year

South Korea's exports of agricultural and fishery goods exceeded the $10 billion mark for the first time this year, led by the popularity of "hallyu," the Korean wave of pop culture, data showed Sunday. Outbound shipments of foodstuffs came to $10.13 billion in the Jan. 1-Nov. 25 period, up 16.1 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It marked the first time that exports of agricultural and fishery goods

EconomyNov. 28, 2021

Seoul stocks tipped to be in tight range next week on COVID-19, inflation woes

South Korean stocks are likely to continue fluctuating in a tight range next week amid concerns about a rise in new coronavirus cases and the rising inflation pressure. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,936.44 points Friday, down 1.16 percent from 2,971.02 points a week ago. After a technical rebound on Monday, the key stock index lost for a fourth consecutive day Friday amid woes over rising inflation and a sharp spike in new virus cases. Investors took to the sid

MarketNov. 27, 2021

Fast-growing metaverse creates legal risks: law firm

The metaverse, a kind of virtual community that lets users interact in real-time, carries potential legal risks, and requires regulations to ensure platform operators protect their users from digital crimes, experts said Friday. “Since metaverse embodies the virtual world as almost exactly the same as the real world, there are concerns on severe privacy violations. It is highly possible that data on the users’ whereabouts, medical information and political affiliations could be lea

TechnologyNov. 26, 2021

AMAXG Group advertises its metaverse, NTF vision on the Time Square in NY

South Korean blockchain research company AMAXG has put up an ad on the Time Square billboard in New York, sharing its vision on metaverse and nonfungible tokens. The ad says, “AMAXG Group is in full support of technological innovation of metaverse in Korea.” AMAXG Group has recently announced it will expand its BizAuto Platform, a group of metaverse services platforms, consisting of three platforms -- BIZA-UVIT, BIZA-Metaversity and BIZA-CarnegieMall. It plans to add BIZA-Motors,

MarketNov. 26, 2021

BOK’s next rate hike could come as early as January: analysts

A day after South Korea’s central bank chief strongly hinted at another rate hike within the first quarter of 2022 following its decision to raise its base rate by 25 basis point to 1 percent, analysts on Friday projected the expected move to come as early as January. The BOK’s monetary policy board on Thursday carried out its second pandemic-era rate hike amid growing inflationary pressure and snowballing household debt. BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol in a press briefing explained that the

EconomyNov. 26, 2021

Foreign ownership of land rises 1.3%

The total amount of land foreigners held as of June this year rose 1.3 percent, compared to December last year, to 256.7 square kilometers. That is equivalent to 0.2 percent of South Korea’s entire land area, according to the Land Ministry on Friday. The total value was 31.6 trillion won ($26.5 billion). Foreign ownership spiked in 2014 and 2015, jumping 6 percent and 9.6 percent on-year respectively, but the annual increase has remained between 1 and 3 percent since then. US nationals

EconomyNov. 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] Home prices in Banpo poised to top W100m per ‘pyeong’

SEJONG -- Banpo-dong, Seoul, is likely to see the average trading price of homes exceed 100 million won ($83,800) per “pyeong” in the coming months. Apgujeong-dong, Seoul is poised to follow suit. In the nation, a pyeong is a basic unit used for real estate prices, equal to 3.3 square meters. These two districts in the capital’s Gangnam-gu, located just south of Han River, are the priciest in South Korea. According to Naver.com and KB Kookmin Bank, Banpo-dong’s home pr

MarketNov. 26, 2021

Banks' mortgage rates rise to 3-year high in October

Banks' average interest rate on mortgage loans rose to the highest level in about three years, central bank data showed Friday, as the government has tightened lending rules to rein in soaring household debt. According to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK), banks' mortgage loan rate averaged 3.26 percent in October, up 0.25 percentage point from a month earlier. This marked the highest since November 2018, when the corresponding rate was 3.28 percent. Banks' unsecured loan rate also rose 0.4

MarketNov. 26, 2021

Export-Import Bank offers financial support to state oil firm

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea National Oil to offer the state-run oil company financial support worth about 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion). KNOC, established in 1979 after the energy crisis in the 1970s to oversee oil storage businesses for the country, will use the fund to invest in overseas oil exploration and production, while working to find new energy sources like wind power, the company said. “We expect to cre

EconomyNov. 26, 2021

Korea to greenlight self-service hydrogen charging stations, replace coal with ammonia

South Korea on Friday unveiled a pangovernmental hydrogen blueprint that laid out detailed plans to realize the nation’s hydrogen economy, from authorizing self-service hydrogen fueling stations to replacing coal with ammonia at power plants. The blueprint aims to address the key weaknesses of Korea’s hydrogen ambition -- heavy reliance on foreign-made hydrogen, concerns over safety, lack of demand and price competitiveness in the hydrogen mobility sector and infrastructure, the g

IndustryNov. 26, 2021

Coupang holds special online event for Black Friday

South Korean e-commerce company Coupang said Friday that it will hold a special event to celebrate the Black Friday shopping extravaganza.  This year’s event, which continues through Sunday, includes offering global products at a discount for those using its “Rocket Jikgu” overseas delivery service and the Rocket Delivery category that includes directly imported goods. A limited-time sale will also take place daily. Brands that are participating includes consumer electr

IndustryNov. 26, 2021

Burger King apologizes for plastic wrapper in burger

Burger King issued an apology Friday, after a plastic wrapper was found inside a burger sold at one of its stores in Sejong. “Burger King would like to sincerely apologize to the customer for the inconvenience,“ the US burger chain said in a statement. ”We are currenly investigating how the substance got into the food. Burger King will increase efforts to improve the quality of our products and services.“ On Thursday, a male customer told local media he found a she

ConsumerNov. 26, 2021