Stable US Treasury yields, market rallies support scenario of Kospi rebound in Q2

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi could log a fresh record high in the second quarter, a local analyst suggested Tuesday, citing stable US Treasury yields and market rallies on Wall Street as fundamentals. KB Securities analyst Lee Eun-taek wrote in a report that the rise in value of the Korean won against the US dollar is also another positive factor to foreigners’ net purchases in the local stock market. “Kospi is expected to continue its upward movement in the middle of the se

MarketApril 6, 2021

AeroK to launch its first scheduled flight next week

South Korean low cost carrier AeroK said Tuesday its first scheduled flight between Cheongju and Jeju will take off on April 15. The airline, which is based at Cheongju International Airport, will fly three round trips per day with its A320 aircraft between the largest city of North Chungcheong Province and Jeju Island. “Operation of our first scheduled flight had to be delayed as a result of the obstacle that is COVID-19, but we believe the news about our operation will be a silver lini

MobilityApril 6, 2021

Budget carrier Eastar aims to pick new investor by early May: CEO

Financially troubled Eastar Jet aims to select a new investor by early May as several investors have shown an interest in the budget carrier, the company's chief executive officer said Tuesday. Eastar will decide whether to proceed with the investor selection process in the form of a "stalking-horse" bid or an open auction, by the end of this month, Eastar CEO Kim You-sang told Yonhap News Agency over the phone. In the stalking-horse bid, Eastar will select a preliminary preferred

IndustryApril 6, 2021

NH Investment ‘fully responsible’ for W300b Optimus misselling: FSS

South Korea’s financial watchdog said Tuesday that it holds NH Investment & Securities, the nation’s second-largest brokerage firm by net assets, entirely accountable for the misselling practices associated with the Optimus Asset Management alleged hedge fund fraud. The Financial Supervisory Service ordered NH Investment to compensate end-investors for losses of some 300 billion won ($267 million) incurred in 326 cases they brought to the Financial Dispute Conciliation Committe

MarketApril 6, 2021

Financial holding firms' 2020 net down on increased provisions

South Korea's 10 financial holding firms saw their combined net profit edge down last year, due mainly to higher loan-loss provisions, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of KB Financial, Shinhan Financial and eight other financial holding firms stood at 15.11 trillion won ($13.4 billion) in 2020, compared with a profit of 15.23 trillion won for 2019, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The decline came as banks increased loan-loss provisions to prepar

EconomyApril 6, 2021

Online shopping rises 15% in Feb. amid pandemic

Online shopping in South Korea grew 15.2 percent on-year in February as more people bought products via e-commerce platforms amid the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 13.7 trillion won ($12.2 billion) in February, compared with 11.9 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Online shopping has gathered pace since last year as people preferred shopping in a non-contact manner due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Purch

EconomyApril 6, 2021

Lotte Chilsung fined W1b over unfair practice

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to fine leading beverage maker Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. and its wine-selling affiliate a combined 1.1 billion won ($978,000) for hampering market competition. Lotte Chilsung unfairly supported its wholly owned unit MJA Wine for 10 years since 2009 in a bid to improve the affiliate's profitability, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Lotte Chilsung supplied wines to its affiliate at lower prices and shouldered lab

IndustryApril 6, 2021

Seoul’s hotel transactions, occupancy shrink by half

Hotel transaction volume in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul fell sharply in 2020 as travel restrictions stemming from the coronavirus pandemic sent shock waves through the accommodation industry, data showed Tuesday. The 22 hotel transactions that closed in Seoul last year amounted to 701.8 billion won ($624.8 million), down 53 percent from a year prior, according to data from real estate services firm GenstarMate. In the meantime Seoul’s hotel occupancy rate, a key indicator

MarketApril 6, 2021

SK to buy 16% stake in Vietnam's largest retailer

SK Group said Tuesday it will make a strategic investment in VinCommerce, Vietnam's largest retail group, to tap into the fast-growing e-commerce segment in the Southeast Asian market. SK said its Southeast Asian investment arm signed a deal to buy a 16.3 percent share in VinCommerce for 460 billion won ($410 million). VinCommerce, a retail subsidiary of Masan Group, operates about 2,300 convenience stores and supermarkets in Vietnam, taking about 50 percent of the nation's retail sector. In

IndustryApril 6, 2021

S. Korea's wearable device market grows over 50% in 2020: data

South Korea's wearable device market grew more than 50 percent last year, industry data showed Tuesday, due to rising demand for IT products amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend.  Domestic shipments of wearable products, including smartwatches, wireless earphones and electronic wristbands, totaled 12.76 million units in 2020, up 50.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from market researcher IDC Korea. Wireless earphones accounted for 74 percent of the market with 9.39

TechnologyApril 6, 2021

LG Innotek establishes AI-powered patent analysis system to boost R&D

LG Innotek Co., a major electronics parts maker in South Korea, said Tuesday it has established an artificial intelligence (AI) powered patent search and analysis system to beef up its research and development (R&D) efforts. With its deep learning technology, the affiliate of LG Electronics Co. said the system leverages sentence recognition algorithms which it developed with LG AI Research, an AI technology research hub for LG Group. Its solution can execute real-time analysis of context a

TechnologyApril 6, 2021

[Graphic News] S. Korea's pet fish market to grow 35% by 2025

　South Korea said it will seek to expand the size of the local pet fish market by 35 percent through 2025 by developing more homegrown species while encouraging the public to adopt them. 　Under the goal, the size of the local pet fish market will reach 657 billion won ($581 million) in 2025, up 35 percent from 487.3 billion won tallied in 2020, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. 　Over the period, the number of farms raising pet fish will increase to 186 from the current 151

BusinessApril 6, 2021

S. Korean stocks open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street on the back of strong US jobs data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 12.36 points, or 0.40 percent, to reach 3,133.19 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The strong start followed overnight gains on Wall Street, which got a boost from better-than-expected US jobs data released Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite adde

MarketApril 6, 2021

LG Electronics partners KT to develop cross-platform AI services

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it plans to develop cross-platform artificial intelligence (AI)-powered services with KT Corp., South Korea's major telecom operator, to expand use of its human-like algorithm. LG and KT plan to commercialize services that support AI platforms from both companies after developing a joint interface. The two companies recently verified compatibility between LG's ThinQ and KT's GiGA Genie AI platforms. The South Korean tech giant tested its smart mirror to find

TechnologyApril 6, 2021

Foreign IBs hike S. Korea's 2021 growth outlook to 3.8%

Major global investment banks (IBs) have again upgraded their outlook for South Korea's 2021 economic growth amid growing hopes of a recovery, a report showed Tuesday. As of end-March, nine major global IBs, including Barclays, BoA-Merrill Lynch and Citi, forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.8 percent this year, up 0.2 percentage point from their median outlook a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance. It represents the fourth straight

EconomyApril 6, 2021

Brokerages’ shares rise on investments in emerging firms

Shares in local brokerages have risen over the past few days as their investments in rising fintech companies have gained attention from investors. 　 Shares in Hanwha Investment and Securities rose 61 percent from Wednesday, following local media reports that Dunamu, the operator of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, is mulling a New York Stock Exchange listing. The IPO rumor boosted the investment arm of Hanwha, which owns 6.15 percent or 2.07 million shares in Dunamu,

MarketApril 5, 2021

Hanjin KAL stocks plunge as hostile takeover bid comes to standstill

Shares of Hanjin KAL plunged Monday as a hostile takeover bid of an activist investor group came to a standstill the week prior. Hanjin KAL, the holding company of the Hanjin conglomerate that controls flag carrier Korean Air Lines, dipped 7.8 percent on the Korean bourse at Monday’s close, as nearly 300 billion won ($266 million) in market cap evaporated within a single day. Hanjin KAL‘s share price hit a 52-week low Monday morning, trading as low as 51,400 won apiece. This com

MarketApril 5, 2021

KITA provides market consultant program for exporters

In order to help out small and medium-sized exporters in the global market, the Korea International Trade Association and its business consultants have met to share successful case studies on the trade front, officials said Monday. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy has faced a shift into a digital era and a new value chain,” said KITA Chairman Koo Ja-yeol during a meeting with KITA’s export consultants. “For (Korean) companies to gain momentum in the

IndustryApril 5, 2021

Shipbuilding industry rebounds as global orders bundle in

South Korea’s shipbuilding industry is looking ahead to a prosperous year on the back of a global shipping volume recovery and heightened demands for eco-friendly vessels, industry data showed Monday. Of the 10.25 million compensated gross tonnage in global shipping order quantity from January to March this year, South Korean shipbuilders accounted for 5.32 million or 52 percent of the global volume, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Monday, citing data from global shipping

IndustryApril 5, 2021

[From the Scene] Perks of being a hydrogen taxi driver

Lee is a 61-year-old taxi driver in Seoul. He takes pride in being able to support his two kids, who both speak four languages, and his wife, who gives piano lessons at an elementary school. But there is also something else he finds satisfaction in -- his car that runs on hydrogen. After spending his whole life working for Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts arm of Hyundai Motor Group, the retiree now drives a Nexo -- Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell powered SUV. Lee, who preferred not to give his

IndustryApril 5, 2021