South Korean stocks edged 0.27 percent down Thursday as investor sentiment was dampened by overnight losses on Wall Street, but the losses were narrowed by better-than-expected corporate earnings of large-cap companies, analysts said. The local currency declined against the U.S. greenback.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 5.32 points to 1,931.65. Trading volume was moderate at 363.9 million shares worth 4.27 trillion won ($4.05 billion), with losers slightly leading gainers 41

Oct. 23, 2014

Foreign investors increased their holdings of won-dominated bonds in South Korea last month on the back of global economic woes and a sluggish local stock market, financial data showed Thursday.Offshore investors purchased local bonds worth a net 2.8 trillion won ($2.66 billion) last week, the highest weekly figure in 16 months, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service.They bought 496.8 billion won worth of government bonds and 2.3 trillion won worth of monetary stabil

Oct. 23, 2014

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao said Thursday that he does not have a stance on South Korea's interest in joining China's push to set up a regional bank to fund infrastructure projects in Asia, but cautioned that the proposed China-led bank should meet international standards.    Nakao made the comments in response to remarks made on Wednesday by South Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan in Beijing that Seoul is willing to join the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investme

Oct. 23, 2014

Foreign investors increased their holdings of won-dominated bonds in South Korea last month on the back of global economic woes and a sluggish local stock market, financial data showed Thursday.Offshore investors purchased local bonds worth a net 2.8 trillion won (2.66 billion) last week, the highest weekly figure in 16 months, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).They bought 496.8 billion won worth of government bonds and 2.3 trillion won worth of monetary s

Oct. 23, 2014

South Korea has borrowed nearly 70 trillion won (US$66.6 billion) worth of short-term money, including Treasury bills, over the past three years to make up for financial shortfalls in running government affairs, government data showed Thursday.According to the data submitted by the finance ministry to the National Assembly, the government borrowed 68 trillion won worth of short-term money from 2012 to September this year. The money includes issuances of Treasury bills and borrowing money from th

Oct. 23, 2014

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol on Wednesday emphasized the need to bolster financial stability to brace for a negative change of course in the global economy.Speaking at a financial forum in Seoul, Lee told participants that Asia's fourth-largest economy should improve its economic fundamentals as well as resilience to effectively cope with negative spillover effects stemming from changes in external circumstances, according to documents released by the BOK.The BOK chief said the count

Oct. 22, 2014

South Korea's bourse operator on Tuesday unveiled a set of new indices that track high dividend-paying stocks, hoping that they will serve as key investment tools in the era of low market rates and low growth.The four new indices -- the KOSPI high dividend index, the KRX high dividend index, the KOSPI dividend growth index and the KOSPI preferred share index -- track stocks paying high dividends, stocks with stable dividend growth and preferred shares, according to the Korea Exchange (KRX).  Usu

Oct. 21, 2014

The default rate of corporate bills in South Korea dipped in September compared with the previous month when the figure soared to the highest level in more than three years, central bank data showed Tuesday.The default rate of corporate bills -- bonds, checks and promissory notes -- reached 0.22 percent last month, compared with 0.28 percent in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The central bank credited the on-month decline to a fall in defaults of cash-strapped conglomerates Tong Yan

Oct. 21, 2014

South Korea's bourse operator Korea Exchange said Monday that it has approved Cheil Industries Inc.'s plan to list its shares on the local main stock market. The de facto holding firm of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group had filed for an initial public offering on Sept. 19. Cheil Industries, formerly known as Samsung Everland Co., earlier had said it plans to go public by the first quarter of 2015. Lee Kun-hee, chairman of the group's flagship Samsung Electronics Co., his only son Jay

Oct. 20, 2014

South Korean currency and stocks have been the worst performers among emerging markets in Asia this month amid concerns of a slow economic recovery and a set of negative external factors, market data showed Sunday.According to the data, the South Korean won tumbled 2.06 percent against the greenback over the past 17 days, the largest drop among the currencies of seven emerging markets in Asia.Malaysia came next with a 0.4 percent drop in the value of its currency against the dollar, followed by

Oct. 19, 2014

The head of financially troubled Tong Yang Group, the nation’s 38th largest company, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for selling financial products he knew would yield little or no returns, while thousands of investors’ livelihoods had depended on them.Hyun Jae-hyun, 65, was found guilty of ordering Tong Yang affiliates to issue 1.3 billion won ($1.2 million) worth of corporate bonds and commercial papers between February and September of last year, even though he knew the companie

Oct. 17, 2014

South Korean stocks lost ground Thursday as weak U.S. economic data caused investors to re-evaluate overall market conditions. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. Starting the day on the minus side, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index recouped some losses, yet ended at 1,918.83, down 0.37 percent, or 7.08 points, from Wednesday’s closeTrading volume was moderate at 300.98 million shares worth 4.42 trillion won ($4.17 billion), with decliners outpacing advancers 469 to 34

Oct. 16, 2014

Some 1.4 trillion won ($1.39 billion) was embezzled and misappropriated at local financial companies over the past four and a half years, with the largest single amount of misused funds increasing, financial data showed Thursday.Data from the Financial Supervisory Service, submitted to the National Assembly for audit, cited 651 cases of embezzlement, misappropriation and breach of trust by financial corporate officials between 2010 and the first half of 2014.They accounted for 80 percent of the

Oct. 16, 2014

South Korean companies’ sales growth dropped to the lowest level in more than 10 years as Asia’s fourth-largest economy struggled from slackening domestic demand, central bank data showed Thursday.Sales expanded 2.1 percent in 2013, sharply slowing from 5.1 percent in the previous year, according to a Bank of Korea report that covers 492,288 companies that close their books in the June-December period. The survey does not include nonprofit agencies and financial firms.The 2013 figure marks the l

Oct. 16, 2014