Seoul stocks open steeply higher on eased bond yield concerns

South Korean stocks opened steeply higher Tuesday, tracking an overnight Wall Street rally that stemmed from eased concerns about the impacts of a bond yield hike. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 81.62 points, or 2.71 percent, to 3,094.57 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a bullish start after a three-day holiday weekend on strong institutional and foreign buying. Foreigners, who net sold a record 2.8 trillion won ($2.5 billion) the p

March 2, 2021

Online food delivery market grows 79% in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's online food delivery service market spiked nearly 80 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday. The value of online food service transactions came to 17.4 trillion won ($15.5 billion) last year, up 78.6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was nearly 6.4 times the 2.7 trillion won recorded in 2017, when the statistical agency started tracking related data. Of the total transactions

March 2, 2021

Industrial output snaps 7-month rise in Jan. amid pandemic

South Korea's industrial output declined for the first time in eight months in January, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign that the country's economic recovery momentum still remains weak amid the pandemic. The industrial output declined 0.6 percent in January from the previous month, compared with a 0.4 percent on-month gain in December last year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. But from a year earlier, it gained 1.4 percent. It marked the first on-month decline since

March 2, 2021

Naver, Softbank launch Japanese joint venture to take on internet giants

South Korea‘s leading internet portal Naver Corp. and Japanese telecom giant Softbank Corp. have completed a merger of their subsidiaries to tap deeper into the Japanese market with a wide range of services, their joint venture said Monday. 　 Japanese chat app operator LINE, affiliated with Naver, and Softbank’s internet business Yahoo Japan launched a new entity called Z Holdings. 　 The merger creates a $30 billion tech giant with more than 100 million users on a monthly basis acros

March 1, 2021

[Herald Interview] Carbon-neutral Philips sets higher goals for 2025

For anyone who has tried, it is evident that reducing one’s carbon footprint requires an extraordinary attention to the waste produced, coupled with a conscious effort to cut down on convenient habits that are harmful to the Earth. When the individual effort is enough of a challenge to take on, how does one achieve this seemingly insurmountable task as a company, let alone a global one with international branches? Global health care company Philips has had its eyes on an environmental,

March 1, 2021

Average daily export volume hits new high in February

South Korea saw the volume of exports continue growing for a fourth consecutive month in February, showing signs of recovery from the coronavirus crisis, on the back of strong chip and automobile demand. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy on Monday, outbound shipments came to $44.81 billion last month, up 9.5 percent from the previous year. The average daily export volume increased 26.4 percent to reach $2.3 billion -- the largest for the month. The on-year export growth

March 1, 2021

Market looks ahead to ‘post-coronavirus’ proxy season in March

This year’s March proxy season is to herald unprecedented scenes, including virtual meetings, e-voting systems and the rising presence of environmentally friendly corporate policy frames -- reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic situation. While top-tier conglomerates swiftly moved to adjust the date and format of their upcoming shareholders meetings, smaller businesses were observed struggling with epidemic-caused new market norms. Of the 2,350 listed companies on South Korea’s bench

March 1, 2021

Homeplus to sell cars, offer EV charging services

Homeplus will sell cars and install electric vehicle charging stations, as part of its efforts to provide more reasons for customers to visit its physical stores other than grocery shopping, the hypermarket chain said Monday. Homeplus’ plans for the new mobility service platform cover a wide range of services, and it is currently taking preorders for two electric motorcycles from DNA Motors -- EM-1 and Zappy 1 -- and preparing to launch a rental service, the company said. “By of

March 1, 2021

[Herald Interview] Tailored foreign investing advice gets new twist

Collector of Korean art, TV celebrity, motivational speaker and investment adviser -- those are just a few of the titles Mark Tetto, 40, has under his belt. After about 10 years of living in Seoul, the Italian American multihyphenate is taking on a new challenge in leading Topor & Co. Korea, one of the first investment advisers in South Korea that handles private wealth management for wealthy families. In the past five years as a partner at TCK, his primary focus was to manage a globally d

March 1, 2021

[Photo News] Samsung Electro-Mechanics introduces new optical zoom

Samsung Electro-Mechanics officials present its folded, 10x optical zoom camera module for smartphones. The company on Monday announced it will begin mass production of the technology, claiming to be the first South Korean maker to do so. Folded zoom technology allows phone makers to minimize the camera’s protrusion in smartphones.  By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)

March 1, 2021

Boys no longer preferred

Statistics Korea’s data on Monday showed the male ratio at birth in South Korea fell to the lowest level last year, implicating the end of the country’s long-held tradition of boy preference. The gender ratio at birth, or the number of baby boys per every 100 baby girls born, stood at 104.9 in 2020 -- the lowest since the institution started to collect related data in 1990. The figure is close to a natural level observed worldwide of about 105 boys to every 100 girls. This repres

March 1, 2021

Netflix to start publishing audit report this year

Netflix Korea will disclose its audit reports in March, which would be its first regulatory filing since entering the country in 2016. The local unit of the US media platform giant is incorporated as a limited liability company here, but has become newly subject to disclosure rules applied for publicly traded firms. The change is due to the effectuation last year of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, amended in 2017 to enhance business transparency and p

March 1, 2021

Pension funds extend stock selling streak to 42nd straight session

South Korean pension funds logged a record-long selling spree of local stocks, extending net selloffs to a 42nd consecutive session. While the unloading trend extended during a recent market correction period, experts predict their selling will likely to continue at least until June this year. The combined net sales of the pension funds came to 12.98 trillion won ($11.57 billion) so far this year. In February, they sold a net 4.58 trillion won -- 4.32 trillion won on the main bourse Kospi an

March 1, 2021

Philip Morris Korea wins legal battle against tax authority over trademark fees

Philip Morris Korea has won a legal battle worth billions of won against the country’s tax authority over trademark usage fees, according to legal sources. The Seoul Administrative Court on Monday ruled in favor of the South Korean unit of the international tobacco company, ordering a tax imposed by Seoul Main Customs worth 9.82 billion won ($8.7 million) to be canceled. The ruling comes four years after the Korea Customs Service ordered the company to pay some 3.4 billion won in customs

March 1, 2021

S. Korea, Switzerland extend W11tr currency swap deal until 2026

The Bank of Korea said Monday it has agreed with Switzerland’s central bank to extend their bilateral currency swap arrangements for another five years, as part of a move to further bolster financial cooperation. The currency swap deal totaling at 11.2 trillion won ($10.1 billion), which was set to end on Monday, will last until March 2026, according to the BOK. “The extension of the currency swap deal aims to enhance bilateral relations in the area of finance and to strengthen f

March 1, 2021

Asia markets stage rebound after last week's rout

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Equities rose in Asia on Monday as investors took a breather following last week's heavy selling, with a drop in US Treasury yields giving markets some much-needed stability, while the passage of Joe Biden's stimulus through the House provided some cheer. However, observers warned that trading floors were still gripped by fears the expected global economic recovery will fuel inflation and force a hike in interest rates earlier than previously thought, removing a key pillar of

March 1, 2021

[Graphic News] Online food sales see explosive growth in S. Korea

　South Korea’s online food market posted explosive growth in 2020 from a year earlier due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The value of online food transactions in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 43.4 trillion won ($39.2 billion) last year, up 62.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea and industry sources. 　The online food market surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark last year after reaching 26.7 trillion won the previous

March 1, 2021

Exports recovery on roll in Feb. on chip sales, outlook bright for further improvement

South Korea's exports rose 9.5 percent in February from a year earlier to extend their gains for the fourth consecutive month on robust shipments of chips, autos and other key products, data showed Monday. Exports came to $44.8 billion last month, compared with $40.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports rose 13.9 percent to $42.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.71 billion. It marked the 10th consecutive month

March 1, 2021

S. Korea, Switzerland agree to extend currency swap deal for 5 years

South Korea and Switzerland have agreed to extend their bilateral currency swap deal that helps expand financial exchanges between the two countries, Seoul's central bank said Monday. The 11.2 trillion-won ($10.1 billion) currency swap, which had been scheduled to expire today, will be put in place for another 5 years, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement. The swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between the two central banks under a limit

March 1, 2021

Institutional investors bet on stock market decline

Amid lingering market uncertainties alongside rising US Treasury yields, local institutional investors seem to have started betting against the equity market, investing in inverse exchange traded funds. Inverse ETFs are designed to make money when target stocks or underlying indexes decline in value. According to data compiled by the nation’s sole securities exchange operator Korea Exchange, investment companies, including stock brokers, bought some 200 billion-won ($177.6 million) wor

Feb. 28, 2021