Seoul stocks likely to suffer extended loss next week on inflation fears

South Korean stocks are likely to suffer an extended slide next week following this week's retreat, as fears about early post-pandemic inflation continue to weigh on the market. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 3,153.32 points on Friday, down 1.37 percent from 3,197.2 points a week ago. On the back of disappointing US jobs data in April that eased woes over inflationary pressure, the local stock market startedwith an advance. However, the stock index slumped more th

MarketMay 15, 2021

McDonald’s to introduce uniform with Hangeul characters for BTS meal

Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, will be seen in McDonald’s in its outlets across the world starting this month. McDonald’s, the fast food restaurant chain, is teaming up with BTS to release a new celebrity meal on May 26. The meal will be sold in a total of 49 countries for a month. During this time, employees will wear a uniform with Hangeul designs to go along with the collaboration. SAINTS, a global fashion media brand, released the uniform design on Thursday. The crew T-shirts,

IndustryMay 15, 2021

Eastar Jet founder indicted on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust

Prosecutors on Friday indicted the founder of cash-strapped budget carrier Eastar Jet for embezzlement and breach of trust. Lee Sang-jik, an independent lawmaker, faces several charges including causing about 43.9 billion won (US$38.8 million) in losses to the airline by underselling company shares to a subsidiary owned by his children in 2015. He is also suspected of embezzling about 5.3 billion won from its affiliates. Lee was arrested late last month, after the National Assembly passed a

MobilityMay 14, 2021

Kepco sees operating profit surge 33% to W571.6b

Korea Electric Power Corp. said Friday its operating profit for the first quarter surged 32.8 percent on-year to 571.6 billion won ($505.9 million), while its revenue fell 0.1 percent to 15 trillion won in the same period. The state-owned, electricity-focused utility said that it saved 192.1 billion won in fuel costs as global fuel prices are staying low due to lack of demand amid the coronavirus outbreak. South Korea is currently almost wholly dependent on fuel imports in producing electricit

IndustryMay 14, 2021

LIG Nex1 inks W164b deal for Korean-made maritime surveillance radar

LIG Nex1 has signed a deal worth 164 billion won ($14.5 million) with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration to mass produce Korean-made maritime surveillance radar, officials said Friday. The Maritime Surveillance Radar-II, developed by LIG Nex1 and to be deployed to the military starting next year, offers greater detection capabilities than existing radars made with technologies borrowed from the US defense firms, according to the DAPA. The radar is enveloped in a dome and therefo

IndustryMay 14, 2021

Hanwha enjoys operating profit jump of 186% in Q1

Hanwha Group, the seventh-largest conglomerate in South Korea, said Friday that its operating profit for the first quarter spiked to 848.5 billion won ($751.6 million), up 186 percent on-year. The net profit also soared 343.94 percent during the same period to 819.9 billion won, largely on the back of the group’s disposal of unprofitable businesses. Its revenue slipped 11.23 percent to 12.8 trillion won. Hanwha Group’s better-than-expected performance was propelled by key affiliat

IndustryMay 14, 2021

Seoul stocks bounce back to gains on US rebound

South Korean stocks bounced back to gains Friday after the US stock market snapped a three-day plunge that stemmed from concerns about early post-pandemic inflation. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 31.21 points, or 1 percent, to close at 3,153.32 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 822 million shares worth some 14.2 trillion won ($12.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 506 to 343. Foreigners sold a net 4

MarketMay 14, 2021

CJ Group joins other companies in offering paid vaccination leave

South Korea‘s food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group said Friday it will start offering paid leave of up to three days to employees who get vaccinated for COVID-19. Including the day of vaccination, two more paid days off will be provided for each of the two shots and an additional day to those who experience symptoms from vaccination. “After a staff meeting last week where opinions on vaccine leave were heard, we decided to take on board those that are in the best interests

IndustryMay 14, 2021

Hyundai, Kia to suspend plants next week on chip shortages

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Friday they will suspend some of their assembly lines for several days next week due to semiconductor shortages. Hyundai Motor plans to halt the No. 5 Ulsan plant, which produces the Tucson sport utility vehicle and the Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle, from Monday to Tuesday and the No. 3 Ulsan plant that produces the Avante compact and the Venue subcompact on Tuesday, a company spokesman said. Hyundai suspended the No. 1 Ulsan plant

IndustryMay 14, 2021

Samsung Biologics says nothing decided on Moderna vaccine production

Samsung Biologics, a biopharmaceutical unit of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, said Friday that it has not been decided yet whether it will manufacture Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccines here. A slew of local newspapers reported that Samsung Biologics is close to signing a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) contract to manufacture the US drug firm's mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus at plants in Songdo, west of Incheon. "Nothing has been decided yet," Sams

IndustryMay 14, 2021

VIG Partners acquires hair & body care firm

South Korea’s buyout fund VIG Partners said Friday it had taken over a 100 percent stake in Seoul-based hair & body care product maker The Skin Factory, known for its flagship brand Kundal, for roughly over 150 billion won ($132.7 million). VIG Partners, overseeing 3.8 trillion won in assets, said it had named Roh Hyun-jun, senior director of overseas and export business at personal care manufacturer Yuhan-Kimberly, as the portfolio company’s new chief executive officer. The S

MarketMay 14, 2021

Domestic demand on mild improvement track: finance ministry

South Korea's domestic demand is gradually improving as a slump in the service sector caused by the pandemic has eased, the finance ministry said Friday. In its monthly economic assessment report, the ministry presented a more positive assessment about private consumption than the previous month, when it said a slump in domestic demand has gradually eased. "The manufacturing sector and investment have continued to improve on the back of robust exports, and domestic demand is on a mild imp

EconomyMay 14, 2021

S. Korea's logic chip capacity to further shrink as US expands: report

South Korea's capacity share in the advanced logic chip market is likely to decline further down the road, a report showed Friday, as the United States pushes to beef up its presence by attracting more global semiconductor firms to build factories on its turf. South Korea was expected to represent 20 percent of global wafer capacity of 10-nanometer (nm) and below nodes this year to rank second in the sector, but its share was projected to decline to 19 percent in 2025 and 17 percent in 2027 to

TechnologyMay 14, 2021

Koramco buys Coupang cold chain warehouse in Korea’s largest REIT deal

Koramco REITs & Trust said Friday its real estate investment trust has closed its acquisition of a cold chain logistics warehouse tenanted by Nasdaq-listed e-commerce giant Coupang for roughly 360 billion won ($318.5 million) in the western port city of Incheon. The deal marks the biggest single logistics asset to be purchased by a REIT in the country by transaction size so far, the real estate investing subsidiary of clothing firm LF said. The warehouse, TJ Logistics Center, is a seven-s

MarketMay 14, 2021

[Graphic News] Consumption expenditures on tourism and leisure hit hard by COVID-19

　Consumption expenditures in South Korea's tourism and leisure sector decreased by more than 20 percent last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a state-funded think tank said . 　In particular, foreigners’ spending in the domestic tourism and leisure sector plunged by nearly 80 percent and the travel industry was hit hardest among the relevant industries, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute said. 　Last year, consumption expenditures in the nation's tourism and leisure industrie

BusinessMay 14, 2021

Samsung expands blockchain support on Galaxy smartphones

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it has expanded support for blockchain users trading virtual assets on its Galaxy smartphones amid rising interest in cryptocurrencies. The South Korean tech said its latest update will allow users to easily manage their transactions by importing their virtual assets stored on select cold hardware wallets to the Samsung Blockchain Wallet available on most Galaxy smartphones. "Support for hardware wallets provides Galaxy blockchain with a consistent user

TechnologyMay 14, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rebound

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday after the US index rebounded from a three-day plunge that stemmed from concerns about early post-pandemic inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 21 points, or 0.67 percent, to reach 3,143.11 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.72 percent, with the Dow Industrial Average and the S&P 500 up 1.29 percent and 1.22 percent, respectively. In Seoul, market bellwe

MarketMay 14, 2021

Govt. dividend income up 2.8% in 2021

The South Korean government's dividend income from its stakes in public companies inched up 2.8 percent this year from the previous year as earnings of some state-run firms improved despite the pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday. Dividend payments by 22 state-run companies to the government amounted to 1.44 trillion won ($1 billion) this year, up 35.6 billion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The gain in dividend income came as the Korea Electri

EconomyMay 14, 2021

Hyundai Motor to invest W8.1tr in US for EV output by 2025

Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it will invest 8.1 trillion won ($7.4 billion) in the United States by 2025 to produce electric vehicles, improve production facilities and increase its presence in the smart mobility solutions area. Hyundai Motor Co., the flagship of the country's top automaking group, plans to produce EVs in its Alabama plant starting next year and its affiliate Kia Corp. also has a plan to roll out EVs in its Georgia plant, Hyundai Motor America said in a statement. Hyundai a

IndustryMay 14, 2021

Foreign investors turn to net buyers of S. Korean stocks in April

Foreign investors turned to net buyers of South Korean stocks last month, ending their four-month selling spree, data showed Friday. Foreigners bought a net 672 billion won ($594 million) worth of local stocks in April, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Investors from Saudi Arabia purchased a net 56.8 billion won of stocks last month, while investors from the Cayman Islands sold a net 58.2 billion won of stocks, according to the FSS. As of end-April, local st

MarketMay 14, 2021