Shares jump 1.64 percent on global market gains

South Korean stocks surged 1.64 percent Tuesday following Wall Street and European market gains and bargain hunting for big caps, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index jumped 29.56 points to 1,828.69, in the second straight session of gains following last week’s sharp drop caused by eurozone jitters.Trading volume was moderate at 416 million shares worth 4.79 trillion won ($4.11 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 664 t

May 22, 2012

Korea’s external debt tops record $400b

South Korea’s external debt rose to a record high in the first quarter mainly due to overseas investors buying local bonds and banks’ foreign borrowing, the central bank said Tuesday.The country’s external debt totaled $411.4 billion as of the end of March, up $13 billion from the previous quarter, according to a report by the Bank of Korea. The country held $275.1 billion in long-term foreign debt, with short term debt totaling 136.3 billion.The size of South Korea’s debt is not a source of con

May 22, 2012

Korea should recoup Woori investment soon: regulator

More than 10 years after South Korea spent $11 billion bailing out its weakest banks, taxpayers are still waiting to get their money back. It’s time to fix that, says Kim Seok-dong, the nation’s top financial regulator. The government needs to push ahead with its third attempt to cut its 57 percent stake in Woori Finance Holdings Co., the company created in 2001 by combining the failing banks, as quickly as possible to recoup that money and arrest its eroding value, said Kim, who is chairman of

May 22, 2012

More than 5m people own Korean stocks

More than 5 million people, about a fifth of Korea’s economically active population, were investing in stocks as of late last year, according to data released by the Korea Exchange on Tuesday.Some 5.28 million people were investing in stocks in Korea, up 10.2 percent from 4.79 million a year before. The new figure accounts for 10.6 percent of the country’s population and 21.2 percent of its economically active population.“The number of stock investors hit record high due to the stock market boom

May 22, 2012

Credit card transaction firms face investigation

A group of civic organizations on Monday requested the prosecution to investigate alleged rebate provision by companies that handle credit card transactions to large retailers that accept credit cards.Because the value-added network companies pay rebates to large retailers, it is becoming difficult to cut credit card commissions for self-employed merchants, the civic groups said.The civic organizations called for a prosecutorial probe into 13 VAN firms as well as 18 credit card acceptors includi

May 21, 2012

Shares gain 0.94 percent on bargain hunting

South Korean stocks gained 0.94 percent Monday on bargain hunting of big caps following last week’s tumble triggered by the eurozone’s fiscal woes, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index picked up 16.67 points to 1,799.13, after falling sharply last week.Trading volume was moderate at 406 million shares worth 4.20 trillion won ($3.60 billion), with losers outpacing gainers 470 to 389.“A sharp drop in stock prices last week f

May 21, 2012

Korea checking Greek crisis contingency plans

South Korea is reviewing contingency plans to better insulate the country from the political and fiscal fallouts from the ongoing crisis in Greece, the country’s top economic policymaker said Monday.Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told a meeting of senior ministry officials that there is a pressing need to keep close tabs on developments taking place in Greece and its effects on the South Korean economy.“Seoul must re-examine its existing contingency plans and prepare for every possible developmen

May 21, 2012

Banks’ fiscal health improves: report

The loan deposit rate for South Korea’s banking institutions fell to 95.3 percent at the end of March as the government takes steps to reduce household debt, the financial regulator said Monday.The Financial Supervisory Service said all 15 local banks, including KB Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank, met the loan deposit ratio limit of less than 100 percent.The limit that must be met by the end of next month is part of Seoul’s plan announced in June 2011 to control the country’

May 21, 2012

Stocks to fall further due to eurozone woes

South Korean stocks are expected to undergo further adjustments this week, weighed down by mounting eurozone uncertainties and their impact on the global economy, local analysts said.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,782.46 on Friday, a drop of 7.03 percent or 134.67 points from a week earlier, mainly due to fears that Greece may exit the eurozone and concerns that the continent’s fiscal woes have started to spill over into the banking sector. The plunge is significant becaus

May 20, 2012

KDB said to plan sale of Samurai bonds

Korea Development Bank plans to tap the Japanese bond market following Thursday’s record Samurai offering by its peer state-owned lender Export-Import Bank of Korea, said a person familiar with the matter.KDB, whose parent is the nation’s largest state-owned banking group, is planning a sale of yen-denominated bonds as soon as early June, the person said, asking not to be identified as details are private. Banks have been asked to submit proposals to arrange the offering and KDB is expected to c

May 20, 2012

State think tank cuts growth forecast to 3.6%

The state-run Korea Development Institute lowered its forecast of South Korea’s economic growth for this year to 3.6 percent on Sunday, citing global economic uncertainties.The latest projection is down from the 3.8 percent made by the KDI in November and lower than the government’s estimate of 3.7 percent. The think tank also predicted the country’s economic growth to rise to 4.1 percent next year.“The South Korean economy has been stuck in a slowdown since the second half of last year due to w

May 20, 2012

Seoul stocks to undergo adjustment weighed down by eurozone woes

South Korean stocks are expected to undergo further adjustments next week, weighed down by mounting eurozone uncertainties and their impact on the global economy,local analysts said Saturday.   The country's key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,782.46 onFriday, a drop of 7.03 percent or 134.67 points from a weekearlier, mainly due to fears that Greece may exit the eurozone andconcerns that the

May 19, 2012

Facebook falls flat in market debut

Facebook stumbled on its first trading day Friday as shares ended barely above the starting price after a glitch-plagued market debut on the Nasdaq that failed to live up to its enormous hype.   The stock, priced at $38 on Thursday in the largest-ever initial public offering for a technology firm, eked out a gain of just 0.61 percent to end at $38.23, amid record volume of more than 575 million sh

May 19, 2012

Hana Bank told to punish staff for irregularities

The nation’s top financial regulator ordered Hana Bank to punish 28 employees for irregularities including embezzlement of gift certificates, mishandling of project financing loans and violation of board rules. The Financial Supervisory Service also slapped Hana Bank with 37.5 million won ($32,000) in fines and issued a warning against it on Thursday. Hana Bank employees were found to have fabricated papers to embezzle gift cards worth some 17.4 billion won for three years after June 2008, the F

May 19, 2012

KOSPI crashes below 1,800 on eurozone woes

Seoul’s financial markets sank on Friday, with the benchmark KOSPI crashing below 1,800 points for the first time in five months as the eurozone crisis deepened.Bank runs and downgraded credit ratings in Greece and Spain, coupled with discouraging U.S. economic reports that caused overnight losses on Wall Street, increasingly unnerved investors. The KOSPI closed at 1,782.46 points on Friday, down 3.4 percent from the day before.Samsung Electronics Co., the biggest blue chip traded on the Seoul b

May 19, 2012

Woori sues Citigroup over securities losses

Korean lender also set to bring BOA-Merrill Lynch, Royal Bank of Scotland to court for same reasonsWoori Bank sued Citigroup Inc. for fraud to redeem losses from collateralized debt obligations, a type of structured asset-backed security. The Korean lender said it was set to lodge lawsuits against BOA-Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland with a U.S. court on Friday for the same reasons. Woori Bank suffered heavy losses worth about 1 trillion won ($852 million) after the U.S. subprime crisis

May 19, 2012