S. Korean biotech firms eying phase 3 clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines

Five South Korean biotech companies are pushing for phase three clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines in the second half of this year, the health ministry said Monday. The government plans to inject about 68.7 billion won ($61 million) this year for the clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines by SK Bioscience Co., EuBiologics Co., Cellid, Genexine and GeneOne Life Science, the ministry said. The ministry made the announcement in a report to President Moon Jae-in. Also Monday, the Ministry of Food

April 12, 2021

Kosdaq sees 1st close above 1,000 points in 20 years

South Korea’s tech-heavy Kosdaq ended at a two-decade high on Monday, surpassing a 1,000-point threshold on rallies of secondary battery and bio shares. The secondary index ended trading at 1,000.65 points, up 11.26 points or 1.14 percent, from the previous session’s close. Both foreign and institutional investors purchased a net 36.2 billion won ($32.17 million) and 100 million won, respectively, while retail investors dumped 19.5 billion-won worth of shares. Among the top 10 l

April 12, 2021

South Korea pays keen attention to upcoming US semiconductor bill

The South Korean government and experts in the semiconductor industry are paying close attention to a meeting hosted by the White House on Monday in the US.  According to Seoul-based government officials and industry experts, concerns exist about recent moves by the US government to reinforce its chip industry in terms of Korea’s industrial competitiveness and Korean chipmakers’ global operations.  The moves by the Biden administration -- the review of America’s sem

April 12, 2021

[#WeFace] ‘Embrace ESG principle as incentive’

The government should not set legal requirements for companies adopting environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, principles, but should instead provide incentives for those accepting green and ethical management practices voluntarily, a top lawyer said.  Lim Sung-taek, a managing partner at law firm Jipyong, said in an interview that excessive state-imposed restrictions regarding ESG commitments could lead to market backlash because ESG is about paradigm shifts created by ma

April 12, 2021

Moon’s housing policy faces call for review after election defeat

The election of Seoul’s new mayor has left the central government’s housing policies in limbo, as the administration is expected to face pushback from the conservative bloc that is campaigning to ease real estate regulations. The political realignment following the results of the by-election last week has sparked concerns over possible policy shifts for the property market. The government and ruling Democratic Party of Korea are expected to hold talks to revise real estate policies

April 12, 2021

What next after LG-SK battery dispute end?

The dramatic reconciliation between archrivals LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation has allowed the latter to salvage its two electric vehicle battery factories in the US state of Georgia and supply batteries to Volkswagen and Ford as planned. But further challenges lie ahead, industry analysts said Monday. The two-year dispute between LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation over battery technologies jeopardized the operations of the Georgia plant. This battery supply chain risk motivated majo

April 12, 2021

Institut Pasteur Korea partners with Genexine for global clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine

Institut Pasteur Korea announced Monday that it had signed an agreement with Genexine to offer support for the latter’s global clinical studies of COVID-19 vaccine candidate GX-19N. IPK said it would help Genexine conduct clinical studies of GX-19N and examine the efficacy of GX-19N against COVID-19 variants. According to Genexine, the vaccine candidate, which contains an antigen targeting the coronavirus’ nucleocapsid protein, is potentially effective against COVID-19 variants.

April 12, 2021

Seoul stocks inch up amid valuation pressure, KOSDAQ closes at 21-year high

South Korean stocks inched up on Monday, as investors took to the sidelines amid increased valuation pressure and uncertainties from the Sino-American political friction. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.71 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 3,135.59. Trading volume was moderate at about 1 billion shares worth around 13.1 trillion won ($11.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 493 to 350. F

April 12, 2021

Samsung BioLogics, Kakao and Hyundai Motor compete to join KOSPI's top 5 club

Samsung BioLogics, Kakao and Hyundai Motor are competing to be the fifth-largest company in terms of market capitalization in South Korea. According to Korea Exchange on Monday, Samsung BioLogics is currently holding fifth place on the country’s main bourse Kospi, with a market cap of 51.7 trillion won ($45.9 billion). Kakao and Hyundai Motor closely follow with 49.5 trillion won and 48.2 trillion won, respectively. Competition for the fifth spot has recently escalated after Kakao&rsqu

April 12, 2021

[News Focus] Coupang, E-mart, Market Kurly join race to offer cheapest price as competition grows

Major e-commerce giants in South Korea are offering the cheapest prices and free delivery to keep an edge over their rivals, as competition grows amid the pandemic-fueled online shopping boom. E-commerce grocer Market Kurly was the latest to ramp up competition on Monday as it announced its “Every Day Low Price” -- a lowest-price guarantee program for some 60 food products. The new measure will see the platform offer products such as rice, instant noodles, fresh vegetables and fru

April 12, 2021

Pan Ocean signs another bunkering ship deal with Shell

Pan Ocean Co., South Korea's second-largest shipper by sales, said Monday it has signed another deal with global oil giant Shell NA LNG, LLC (Shell) for the lease of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering ship for six years. Under the $55-million deal, the 18,000-cubic meter LNG bunkering ship to be built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. will be put into operation for Shell by May 2023, the company said. The deal to be effective by May 2029 has an option to extend the lease period by two years.

April 12, 2021

Macquarie IM Korea rebranded after local PEF assumes control

Macquarie Investment Management Korea has been rebranded as Feynman Asset Management upon an acquisition deal proposed by a South Korean private equity firm, the company said Monday. The asset management company, which oversees some 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion) worth of assets, has named Kim Eun-soo to lead the company. Kim is the former head of the Korean unit of Hong Kong-based Mason Group Holdings. Feynman Invest, a fledgling private equity firm, gained regulatory approval from the Fin

April 12, 2021

Foreigners to return net buyers after extending sell-offs

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks last month, extending their selling spree for a fourth consecutive month, but some market experts have a positive outlook on their return. “Foreigners’ net purchase has lately occurred to Kospi since the index is still relatively undervalued (compared to other key indexes) amid growing recovery hopes for global economy and business profits,” Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyung-min wrote in a report Monday. Accord

April 12, 2021

Posco Q1 operating earnings up 120% to W1.55tr

South Korea's leading steelmaker Posco estimated Monday its first-quarter operating profit hit the highest point in 10 years on robust demand amid global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Operating profit for the January-March quarter jumped to 1.55 trillion won ($1.4 billion) from 705.3 billion won during the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing. It marked the highest quarterly operating profit since the steelmaker reported 1.7 trillion won in the se

April 12, 2021

Banks to tighten grip on loans in Q2 amid pandemic: poll

Banks in South Korea are expected to tighten their lending to households and big companies in the second quarter of this year, as credit risks will remain high amid the pandemic, a central bank poll showed Monday. The Bank of Korea's index measuring the banks' attitude toward fresh loans came to minus 2 for the second quarter. The lower the reading, the more likely banks will tighten their restrictions on lending. A reading below zero means that the number of lenders that will restrict lending

April 12, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding wins W227b in orders for 3 ships

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Monday it has obtained a combined 227 billion won ($202 million) worth of orders to build three liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers. Under the deal with an Asian company, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, will deliver two 86,000-cubic meter LPG carriers starting in the first half of 2023, KSOE said. Another deal with an Oceanian company calls for Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., another KSOE unit, to deliver a 40,000-

April 12, 2021

S. Korea's stock market cap gains 3.6% in Q1

South Korea's stock market value grew nearly 4 percent in the first quarter of the year on increased share prices of chemical firms, builders, transportation companies and game makers, a corporate tracker said Monday. The combined market capitalization of 2,385 listed companies in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 2,411 trillion ($2.15 trillion) as of end-March, up 3.6 percent, or 84 trillion won, from the start of the year, according to CXO Institute. Of the total listed companies, 60 per

April 12, 2021

Fine dust emissions from coal plants halve on operation cap

Fine dust emissions from coal plants more than halved over the past four-month period compared with two years earlier, data showed Monday, after the country limited their operations during the winter. Local coal plants generated 3,191 tons of fine dust from December last year to March 2021, sharply down from 6,549 tons posted in the same period two years earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea started regulating the operation of coal power plants in late 2

April 12, 2021

SK Telecom launches AR app in US

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Monday it launched its augmented reality (AR) app in the United States as it seeks widespread adoption of the immersive technology. The mobile carrier said it released its Jump AR app, previously only available in South Korea and Hong Kong, on Google's Play store in the United States, allowing American Android users to experience its mixed reality content, such as taking photos with celebrity avatars. SK Telecom said it also released a

April 12, 2021

Korean battery makers rally after battery dispute settlement

Shares of two Korean battery makers spiked Monday as they ended a two-year legal dispute over electric vehicle (EV) battery technology, which cleared uncertainty over their businesses. On Sunday, LG Chem-owned LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. reached a last-minute settlement in a bitter US trade dispute, just one day before an import ban on SK was to take effect. SK Innovation agreed to pay 2 trillion won ($1.78 billion) in compensation, half in cash and half in royalty, to its bi

April 12, 2021