Foreign IBs up S. Korea's 2021 growth outlook to 3.6%

Major global investment banks (IBs) have revised up their forecasts for South Korea's 2021 economic growth for the third consecutive month amid growing expectations for a recovery, a report showed Tuesday. As of end-February, nine major global IBs, including Barclays, BoA-Merrill Lynch and Citi, forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.6 percent this year, up 0.1 percentage point from their median outlook a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Fin

March 9, 2021

Current account surplus sharply narrows in January

South Korea's current account surplus narrowed sharply in January due to higher oil prices, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus reached $7.06 billion last month, narrowing from a surplus of $11.51 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade, on faltering exports amid the COVID-19 p

March 9, 2021

Competition heats up over SK Bioscience’s book building

As COVID-19 vaccination campaigns have picked up pace around the globe, South Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience has garnered keen attention from investors at home and abroad ahead of its market debut. The vaccines unit of the nation’s No. 3 conglomerate SK Group wrapped up its two-day book building Friday. While institutional investors placed bids to obtain new shares for the initial public offering, a total of 1,464 domestic and foreign institutions participated, according to investment ba

March 8, 2021

LG Electronics streamlines overseas auto parts plants to boost efficiency

LG Electronics Inc. has revamped its overseas auto parts production bases, industry insiders said Monday, in a move to beef up its automotive solutions business for future growth. LG recently completed closure of its plant in Kunshan, southeastern China, which had been producing vehicle infotainment components, such as audio, video and navigation (AVN), according to industry sources. The move was part of the company's plan to enhance manufacturing efficiency in its automotive business, accordi

March 8, 2021

[News Focus] Can record metal prices dent global EV drive?

Battery metal prices are going through the roof due to explosive global demand for electric vehicles, threatening to undermine their price competitiveness against internal combustion vehicles. According to Swedish market tracker EV Volumes, global electric vehicle sales in 2020 spiked to 3.24 million units, up 43 percent from 2.26 million on-year, triggering a surge in the price of raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. Nickel and cobalt registered prices at 17-month and 24-month highs, res

March 8, 2021

Samsung Heavy to appeal arbitration ruling over drill rig deal dispute

Samsung Heavy Industries said Monday that it will lodge an appeal at a British arbitration court over the recent ruling that it has to refund the money received from a Swedish client for a delayed shipbuilding deal. The London Court of International Arbitration ruled Friday that the South Korean shipbuilder should return the prepaid money and the interest -- worth 463.2 billion won ($408.89 million) to Swedish shipping line company Stena. The court said that Stena’s cancellation of a de

March 8, 2021

Conglomerates hasten to add women to boards

South Korea’s top-tier businesses are making hurried moves to secure female figures for their boards of directors, aiming to finalize the appointments for their forthcoming annual shareholders’ meetings later this month. The key driving factor is the Capital Market and Financial Investment Business Act, which applies enhanced standards for companies’ gender equity and major shareholders’ voting rights. Under the new rules, which are to take effect in August 2022, lis

March 8, 2021

Finance minister renews calls for public servants' alertness amid land deal scandal

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said on Monday that the latest land speculation scandal involving public officials is a wake-up call for public servants whose misdeeds undermine the credibility of key policies. Public outcry mounted over allegations that employees of the state-run housing developer Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) used internal information on housing supply projects for their speculative property investments. "Public servants should take the latest case with extra vigilance

March 8, 2021

Seoul stocks fall under 3,000 amid renewed inflation concerns

South Korean stocks fell under the 3,000-point threshold on Monday, as improved Chinese economic data and higher US bond yields stoked renewed concerns over rising inflationary pressure. The Korean won weakened against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 30.15 points, or 1 percent, to close at 2,996.11 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.9 billion shares worth some 15.5 trillion won ($13.7 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 551 to 302.

March 8, 2021

Korean Air raises W3.3tr by issuing new shares

South Korea’s largest airline, Korean Air, said Monday that it had successfully raised 3.3 trillion won ($2.9 billion) by issuing new shares. Of the funds raised through the latest capital increase, some 1.5 trillion won will be used to acquire domestic rival Asiana Airlines, according to the carrier. In the funding round, which ran from March 4 to 5, the right to buy the newly issued shares was given only to the firm’s existing shareholders and members of the employee stock owne

March 8, 2021

Posco International aims to produce 10,000 tons of fuel cell separators by 2027

Posco International aims to increase the production of fuel cell separators for electric vehicles to 10,000 tons by 2027, the company said Monday. The firm, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Posco SPS (Steel Processing & Service), currently produces 1,400 tons of Poss470FC, the stainless separator essential in utilizing hydrogen as an energy source for fuel cell EVs. The current volume covers around 35,000 FCEVs. Poss470FC boasts a thinness of 0.1 millimeters, and it is produced in an

March 8, 2021

Celltrion to soon start overseas clinical study for novel heart disease medicine

South Korean pharmaceutical giant Celltrion is preparing to launch an overseas clinical trial for a new medicine for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to industry sources Monday. Celltrion is currently recruiting participants in Poland for its phase 1 clinical trial for CT-G20, the South Korean biopharmaceutical company’s first-ever chemical drug for HCM, a heart disease for which there is currently no known cure. The firm plans to submit an investigational new drug application t

March 8, 2021

Early bird flight tickets on sale in anticipation of overseas travel restart

E-commerce platform Interpark on Monday started offering air tickets which you can purchase now and fly after quarantine restrictions for international traveling are lifted. The “Early Go” tickets, which are for South Korean low cost carrier T’way Air flights, come with a one-year price freeze after self-quarantine is no longer required between Korea and the destination country, the platform said. Destinations include Cebu, Hanoi, Bangkok, Macau, Taipei and Hong Kong as well

March 8, 2021

Yanolja to give out stocks worth W10m to each staff

Yanolja, the largest accommodation and leisure activity booking platform operator in South Korea, said Monday it would give out 10 million-won ($8,900) worth of stocks in their company to each of its 1,000 staff. The decision will see the stocks given to the company’s current employees and new staff, after CEO and co-founder Lee Su-jin and head of C&D Lim Sang-kyu donated a total of 600,000 stocks. Though the company has previously given stocks to some of its staff through its loya

March 8, 2021

Board approval mandatory for conglomerates’ intracompany transactions over W5b: FSC

As part of the financial authorities’ latest move to bolster monitoring of conglomerates, major firms with financial arms will be legally required to receive board approval for intracompany transactions over 5 billion won ($4.4 million), from June 30, the Financial Services Commission said Monday. South Korean firms, not classified as banking groups, with over 5 trillion won in financial assets and more than two financial units -- mostly insurers and brokerages -- are subjected to the &l

March 8, 2021

Tesla tumble disappoints Korean stockholders

Korean investors holding some $8 billion worth of stocks in US electric vehicle maker Tesla appear to be unnerved after its recent stock price fall. According to the latest data from the Korea Securities Depository, Tesla was Korea‘s favorite foreign stock, holding a combined $8.1 billion worth of shares as of March 2. This was followed by US tech giants Apple, Amazon and Alphabet, the holding company of Google. In the past two months, Korean investors net bought $1.36 billion worth of

March 8, 2021

LG Innotek partners with Microsoft on 3D-sensing camera

LG Innotek said Monday the company has inked a deal with Microsoft to increase its share in the 3D-sensing module market. The South Korean electronic parts supplier signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based tech mogul to cooperate on the development of ToF modules for Microsoft’s Azure Cloud service. The ToF -- time of flight -- module is a core component of 3D-sensing cameras which perceives three-dimensionality, spatial information and movement of an object by measuring

March 8, 2021

S. Korea’s food prices show 4th-highest increase among OECD states

South Korea’s food prices increased at the fourth-highest rate among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in January, largely due to a supply shortage brought on by bird flu, according to data and market experts Monday. January’s prices for groceries and nonalcoholic beverages soared by 6.5 percent on-year, more than twice the OECD average of 3.1 percent, data compiled by the OECD and Statistics Korea showed. Among the 37 OECD member states, steepe

March 8, 2021

4 makers of sewage pipes fined W2.95b over price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Monday it has decided to fine four manufacturers of sewage pipes and manhole covers a combined 2.95 billion won ($2.6 million) for colluding to fix prices of industrial products. Kolon Industries Inc. and its three smaller rivals colluded to fix their quotations between 2011 and 2016 for 268 rounds of purchase bidding for waste pipes and manhole covers by the state procurement agency and builders, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KTFC). The d

March 8, 2021

Banks' 2020 earnings down 11.5% on loan-loss reserves

South Korean banks saw their 2020 earnings decline 11.5 percent from a year earlier as they set aside more loan-loss reserves amid the pandemic, data showed Monday. Their combined net profit came to 12.3 trillion won ($10.9 billion) last year, compared with 13.9 trillion won the previous year, according to preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The decline in net profit came as local banks sharply increased loan-loss reserves last year to cope with the fallout from the

March 8, 2021