Corporate direct financing slips 9.3 pct in H1

Direct financing by South Korean companies shrank 9.3 percent in the first half as firms remained reluctant to raise money in bond markets on yield hikes following the U.S. signaling it would cut its stimulus, the financial regulator said Monday.Local companies raised a total of 59.9 trillion won (US$53.4 billion) in the January-June period by selling stocks and bonds, compared with the 66.1 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).In June, however, corpo

July 22, 2013

Koreans’ direct investment into tax havens tops W16tr

South Koreans have directly invested over 16 trillion won in overseas tax havens over the past five years, a lawmaker said Sunday, citing government data.Rep. An Min-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party, releasing data obtained from the National Tax Service, the Korea Customs Service and other government agencies, said South Korean individuals and enterprises funneled 16.15 trillion won ($14.4 billion) in direct investment into a number of overseas tax havens, including the Cayman Islands

July 21, 2013

Shinhan Bank raises 30b yen via debt sales

Shinhan Bank, a South Korean lender, said Sunday it has raised 30 billion yen ($299 million) by selling bonds denominated in the Japanese currency.Two-year, fixed-rate bonds worth 27 billion yen were priced to yield 0.83 percent or 50 basis points more than the yen-swap rate, while two-year floating rate notes worth 3 billion yen carry an interest of the three-month Yen Libor, or the three-month yen-based London Inter-bank Offered Rate, plus a 60 basis point spread, Shinhan Bank said. A basis po

July 21, 2013

Shares expected to trade higher on U.S. policy moves

South Korean stocks are expected to trade higher this week on abated concerns over a possible reduction in the United States’ quantitative easing moves, analysts said over the weekend.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 1,871.41 points on Friday, down 0.2 percent from the previous week.Earlier last week, Seoul shares gathered ground after China’s National Bureau of Statistics said its gross domestic product growth rose 7.5 percent on-year in the April-June period. China is

July 21, 2013

S. Korea's finance minister voices concern over negative effect from stimulus exit

South Korea's finance minister expressed concern that the rollback of stimulus measures by advanced countries could have a negative ripple effect on theglobal economy, his office said Saturday.The concerns were raised by Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok during talks with his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei that were held before the start of the group of 20 meeting here in Moscow, Russia. Hyun emphasized the need for global cooperation to effectively cope with the negative ripple effect and Lou shared

July 20, 2013

Korea urges G20 action to lessen impact of slower Fed buying

Global finance chiefs must work together to make sure the end of Federal Reserve bond buying does not weaken economic recovery in other nations, South Korean Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said.The Group of 20 needs to coordinate how to handle scaled- back monetary stimulus from the U.S. once its recovery is secure, Hyun said in an interview in Moscow. If not handled carefully, a Fed move away from quantitative easing threatens to slow growth in other nations, which in turn would damp U.S. expans

July 19, 2013

Seoul shares close 0.22 pct lower on earnings woes

South Korean stocks closed 0.22 percent lower Friday as investors sat on the sidelines due to jitters over the listed firms' second quarter earnings, analysts said. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.07 points to close at 1,871.41. Trading volume was moderate at 315 million shares worth 3.54 trillion won (US$3.16 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 418 to 378."Seoul shares traded flat despite that the U.S. stock ma

July 19, 2013

Seoul shares down 0.15 pct in late-morning trade

South Korean stocks traded 0.15 percent lower late Friday morning, led by losses in techs and builders, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 2.88 points to 1,872.60 as of 11:20 a.m.Market behemoth Samsung Electronics lost 1.39 percent, and top chipmaker SK hynix shed 1.37 percent. Top flat panel maker LG Display moved down 0.19 percent.Builders also traded bearish, with Hyundai Engineering & Construction losing 2.11 percent and Daewoo Engineering & Const

July 19, 2013

Seoul shares open tad higher on U.S. gain

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday, buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street on the improved U.S. jobs data, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 1.49 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,876.97 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Carmakers traded higher, with No. 1 Hyundai Motor rising 0.9 percent and its auto parts affiliate Hyundai Mobis adding 0.97 percent. Top shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries gained 0.51 percent.In contrast, tech shares tr

July 19, 2013

Banks move to raise ATM fees to make up for earnings

Some commercial banks are reportedly pushing for a hike in service charges, including those on consumers’ transactions via automated teller machines, according to market insiders on Thursday.While the banking sector slashed service fees in the wake of public criticism over “corporate greed” last year, some lenders are seeking to go back on their decision, highlighting an overall drop in earnings.The banking services include remittances, Internet banking and the use of ATMs. Between 2011 and 2012

July 18, 2013

Economic activity of young Koreans slides to 10-year low

The proportion of young Koreans in their teens and 20s currently working dropped to the lowest level in about a decade, Statistics Korea data showed Thursday.The so-called economic participation rate for those aged between 15 and 29 stood at 43.3 percent as of May 2013, down from 44.7 percent a year earlier.The figure is the lowest since the government agency started producing data on the rate in 2005. The labor force participation ratio is based on a nationwide census every May.The figure, whic

July 18, 2013

LG Uplus launches LTE-Advanced service

LG Uplus Corp., the country’s smallest mobile carrier, introduced its next-generation mobile network on Thursday, offering speeds twice as fast as the existing long-term evolution network.This move by LG Uplus came as its bigger local rival SK Telecom Co. unveiled here last month the world’s first LTE-Advanced network service.With the use of the LTE-Advanced network, an 800 megabyte file takes some 40 seconds to download, compared with 80 seconds with the existing LTE service, it said.The LTE-Ad

July 18, 2013

Fewer businesses launched in 2012

The number of people starting their own business last year dropped for the first time in three years amid toughened economic and business environment, data showed Thursday.According to the data by the National Tax Service, people who launched their own business last year totaled 956,406, down 3.8 percent from 994,386 tallied a year earlier. This marked the first time in three years that the number of newly launched businesses has declined on a year-on-year basis.In the retail sector, the number

July 18, 2013

Hanyang Securities warned for unfair trading

The nation’s main bourse on Thursday issued a warning to Hanyang Securities for engaging in irregular trading of financial derivatives products.The brokerage unit of Hanyang University sought to hamper other investors’ profits through the trading of KOSPI200 option products by issuing an excessive amount of “sell” orders at a certain price, according to the Korea Exchange.Exchange officials said the biggest victims in the aftermath of the firms’ practice were small investors. As Hanyang took a l

July 18, 2013

Seoul shares dip 0.64 pct on foreign selloff

South Korean stocks declined 0.64 percent Thursday on a foreign selling as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said a tapering of the monetary easing will come in due time, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 12.01 points to close at 1,875.48. Trading volume was moderate at 374.9 million shares worth 3.42 trillion won (US$3.05 billion), with losers outstripping gainers 463 to 317. "Bernanke's remarks

July 18, 2013

Seoul shares open lower on foreign selloff

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Thursday, led by a selling binge by foreign investors in large-cap shares, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 10.39 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1,877.10 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Foreigners sold more than 44.2 billion won (US$39.4 million) worth of local equities as of 9:15 a.m. Blue-chip stocks lost ground, with Samsung Electronics shedding 0.8 percent and steelmaker POSCO losing nearly 1 percent. Maj

July 18, 2013

New investigation unit to deal with stock rigging

South Korea’s financial regulators will have reinforced authority in investigating fraudulent stock trading, becoming closer to the surveillance systems used in the United States and Britain.The Financial Services Commission of Korea is poised to set up the “investigation division,” which will be in charge of fast-track scrutiny of alleged stock manipulation, said regulatory officials on Wednesday.“The authority comes from a close benchmarking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and t

July 17, 2013

Won’s volatility hits 16-month high in Q2

The daily volatility of the South Korean currency rose to the highest level in 16 months in the second quarter on fear that the U.S. may taper its monetary easing, the central bank said Wednesday. The average daily volatility of the local currency reached 6.6 won in the April-June period, wider than 5.4 won in the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. The second-quarter data marked the highest volatility since 9.3 won in the fourth quarter of 2011, it added. The on-day currency volat

July 17, 2013