Stocks to hover around 2,000-points this week

South Korean stocks are expected to hover around the psychologically important 2,000-point mark range this week as the market waits on key economic data from the United States and Europe, local analysts said.The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 2,008.91 on Friday, down 0.99 percent from a week earlier. The numbers represent a 1.12 percent or 22.28 point gain from the previous session. The bourse’s weekly loss reflected weak employment numbers in the United States, concerns over sl

April 15, 2012

Bahk calls for global efforts to tackle soaring oil prices

South Korea’s finance minister has urged members of the Group of Twenty to jointly tackle soaring global crude prices that can hurt economic growth.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Bahk Jae-wan sent letters to finance ministers and central bankers of other G-20 members ahead of an upcoming group meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Washington. In the letters, the policymaker said that in order to settle the current problem, the G-20 must show resolve and secure assurances from o

April 15, 2012

Samsung Electronics to pay 851 billion won in dividends

South Korea’s listed firms will begin paying dividends Monday with Samsung Electronics Co. taking the lead with 851.8 billion won ($751 million), the Korea Securities Depository said Sunday.More than 300 companies will pay 4.8 trillion won ($4.2 billion) of dividends by Friday, the KSD said in a statement.SK Telecom comes second with 678.3 billion won, Hyundai Motor third with 504.7 billion won and SK Innovation fourth with 262.5 billion won.As many as 149 firms listed with the main bourse KOSPI

April 15, 2012

Korea needs new strategy to stay ahead of China: ministry

South Korea needs to set up a comprehensive competitive strategy to stay ahead of China in high-end products, the Finance Ministry said Sunday.In a policy review outlining recent developments taking place in the world’s second largest economy, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Chinese products are already competing with South Korean goods in markets around the world.It said Beijing is pushing to produce more value-added products and making inroads into emerging markets, fueling the need

April 15, 2012

Brokerages allowed to handle more foreign exchange services

South Korea’s financial authority said on Sunday it would allow local brokerages to expand their foreign exchange business while sharing more currency data among state-run watchdogs. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said dozens of changes to foreign exchange regulations would come into effect on April 30, striking a balance between deregulation and enhanced market monitoring. Securities houses will be allowed to handle a variety of currency-related services concerning working capital of fund

April 15, 2012

BOK rate-setting committee seat to be filled after 2-year vacancy

President Lee Myung-bak plans to soon appoint a new member of the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee that decides the nation’s key interest rate.The appointment will fill a panel seat that has been left empty for nearly two years. Under the law governing the central bank, the interest rate-setting panel is composed of seven members. But since April 2010, the committee has been led by six members, inviting criticism that the presidential office has been dragging its feet on filling the vac

April 13, 2012

‘Korean economy forecast to grow 3.4% this year’

South Korea’s economic growth is expected to slow to 3.4 percent in 2012 due to a sluggish global economy that may hurt investment and domestic demand, the Asian Development Bank said Friday.The growth forecast for Asia’s fourth-largest economy is lower than Seoul’s official growth projection of 3.7 percent expansion for this year and last year’s 3.6 percent expansion, according to an ADB report.The report analyzed economic conditions of 45 Asian countries.The summary of the report was distribut

April 13, 2012

Seoul shares inch up despite North Korea’s rocket launch

The Seoul economy was unharmed on Friday despite the failed rocket launch by North Korea in the morning, with the country’s benchmark bourse regaining the 2,000-point level after four days. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,009.91, up 22.28 points, or 1.12 percent, from the previous day.The local currency finished at 1,134.8 won to the U.S. dollar, down 5.8 won from Thursday’s close. Senior financial policymakers here had already predicted that North Korea’s provocation would hav

April 13, 2012

Bank household loans contract in March

South Korean banks’ household loans contracted in March from the previous month as people borrowed less money using their overdraft accounts, the central bank said Thursday. Local banks’ household loans, including home-backed loans and credit loans, reached 452.3 trillion won ($393.6 billion) as of the end of March, down 413.9 billion won from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. Lenders’ household loans fell last month after rising by 464.8 billion won in February, as loans secured

April 12, 2012

Korea’s jobless rate falls to 3.7% in March

South Korea’s jobless rate decelerated in March thanks mainly to a rise in jobs in the service sector, a government report showed Thursday.The jobless rate stood at 3.7 percent last month, down from 4.2 percent in February, according to the report by Statistics Korea. A total of 419,000 jobs were added to payrolls in March with 24.26 million people employed in the country, the report showed.The employment rate edged up 0.3 percentage points to 58.6 percent, although the number of jobs created fe

April 12, 2012

Korea’s money supply grows 0.7% in Feb.

South Korea’s money supply rose 0.7 percent in February from the previous month on the rise of short-term savings at banks, the central bank said Thursday. The country’s M2, a narrow measure of the money supply, reached a seasonally adjusted 1,768.3 trillion won ($1.54 trillion) in February, compared with 1,756.1 trillion won in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. Compared with a year earlier, the M2 also expanded 5.3 percent in the month. Since January, the central bank began re

April 12, 2012

Saenuri’s win likely to speed up Woori sale

Election results could also be boon to KDB privatization, secondary banking sectorThe ruling Saenuri Party’s winning of a majority in the National Assembly is expected to accelerate economic policymakers’ project for sale of public funds-injected Woori Financial Group.There had been predictions that the stalled plan for Woori Financial privatization would not be feasible during the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration.Financial regulators seemingly welcomed the results of the April 11 parliame

April 12, 2012

Ex-economic policymakers turn lawmakers　

A group of former top policymakers in economy-related ministries added seats for the ruling Saenuri Party in the April 11 parliamentary elections, according to results based on the exit polls.They included former Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon, former Vice Finance Minister Ryu Sung-gul and former Vice Land Minister Kim Hee-kuk.Kim in particular is seen as a face-saver for the conservative party, beating veteran politician Chung Dong-young of the opposition Democratic United Party in Seoul’s Gangna

April 11, 2012

Banks’ earnings likely to recover in Q1: HMC report

South Korean banks are expected to see a recovery in their earnings for the January-March period, as their interest income remains solid thanks to the mid-term benefit from the rise in lending volume last year. HMC Investment Securities projected that eight lenders including KB, Shinhan, Woori would produce a combined net profit of 3.28 trillion won ($2.87 billion) for the first quarter, up 102.4 percent from the previous quarter. The figure, however, is down 6.2 percent from the year-earlier pe

April 11, 2012

Card firms sanctioned for irregularities

FSS warns Shinhan, Samsung, Hana-SK, Lotte against reckless expansionThe Financial Supervisory Service has issued a warning against four credit card firms over irregular business practices.The financial regulator said Wednesday that it has uncovered reckless credit card issuance to consumers of Shinhan Card, Samsung Card, Hana-SK Card and Lotte Card.“Due to the companies’ negligent screening of consumers’ financial status, they incurred bad loans,” an FSS official said.He said the companies fail

April 11, 2012

Stock market outlook positive for Q2: analysts

The South Korean stock market outlook for the second quarter of this year is largely positive, with certain sectors set to benefit from an expected sign of momentum from the United States, analysts said. In a report titled “Reasons for bullish 2Q12 outlook,” Woori Investment & Securities said that although some negative factors from the troubled eurozone might put pressure on the local bourse, it holds a “positive outlook” for the April-June period. “Over the past month, KOSPI has remained at th

April 11, 2012