KOSPI finishes higher on massive institutional buying

South Korean stocks finished higher Wednesday on strong institutional buying amid mixed prospects of a post-pandemic bond yield hike. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 39.12 points, or 1.29 percent, to close at 3,082.99 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 2.2 billion shares worth some 13.9 trillion won ($12.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 655 to 206. Institutions bought a net 691 billion won, while for

March 3, 2021

KT and LG U+ invest in homegrown app store

South Korea’s telecommunications firms KT and LG U+ said Wednesday they have invested a total of 26 billion won ($23.1 million) in the homegrown app market ONE store, a subsidiary of SK Telecom. KT has spent 21 billion won to acquire a 3.1 percent stake in ONE store, while LG U+ has acquired a 0.7 percent stake with 5 billion won, according to a joint statement released Wednesday. SK Telecom currently has a 50.1 percent stake, and local tech giant Naver has a 26.3 percent share in the

March 3, 2021

USITC embarks on probe into allegation involving Samsung’s LTE devices

The United States International Trade Commission has launched an investigation into an allegation that Samsung Electronics violated a patent related to LTE devices. According to the ITC on Tuesday in the US, the commission voted to institute an investigation of certain LTE-compliant cellular communication devices sold by Samsung and Motorola. The complaint was filed by Austin-based communication device company Evolved Wireless last month. The US firm claimed the importation into the US and

March 3, 2021

Hyundai Heavy joins hands with Saudi Aramco in hydrogen project

Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH) said Wednesday that it has signed a deal with Saudi Arabia's state-run oil firm Saudi Aramco to cooperate on a hydrogen project. Under the deal, Hyundai Oilbank Co., HHIH's refining unit, will import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Saudi Aramco to produce blue hydrogen, which is derived from fossil fuel resources such as natural gas, the holding company said. Carbon captured and stored during the production process will also be provided to Saudi

March 3, 2021

Major banks shed over 1,500 jobs, 200 branches amid COVID-19

South Korea’s five major banks cut over 1,570 jobs and shut down 238 brick-and-mortar branches last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed them toward digitalization, industry data showed Wednesday. According to data compiled by the Korea Federation of Banks, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup shed a combined 238 offline branches and offices on-year to 3,546 as of end-December. While local lenders have been steadily shutting down their brick-and-mortar operations, the figur

March 3, 2021

Coupang ready to go public

E-commerce giant Coupang’s initial public offering plan has been picking up momentum as the offering price of the company’s shares will be determined next week. The New York Stock Exchange announced Tuesday (local time) that the expected pricing date for the e-commerce firm’s IPO will be set on March 10. When the offering price is decided as scheduled, Coupang will likely start being traded publicly on the US stock market from March 11. Hours before the NYSE announcement, Th

March 3, 2021

KDB commits $126m financing to satellite project

South Korea’s state-run lender Korea Development Bank said Wednesday that it had agreed on a $126 million commitment to finance an artificial satellite project in Indonesia. KDB is the first Korean lender to finance a space satellite project. The bank’s funding is part of the latest batch of a $431 million project financing to the digital infrastructure project called Satellite of Republic of Indonesia (Satria). KDB joins lenders HSBC, Banco Santander and Asia Infrastructure Inve

March 3, 2021

S. Korea seeks to sell more farm goods overseas amid pandemic

South Korea said Wednesday it plans to keep up brisk overseas sales of agricultural products in 2021, as demand for ready-to-eat products has been growing around the globe with more people dining at home amid the virus pandemic. Outbound shipments of agricultural products expanded 7.7 percent on-year in 2020 to a record high of $7.57 billion, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The country plans to maintain the growth to post exports of $8.1 billion this year as

March 3, 2021

Exports of fishery goods down 7.4% in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's exports of fishery goods moved down 7.4 percent on-year in 2020 amid the new coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of fishery goods reached $2.32 billion in 2020, compared with $2.5 billion tallied the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. By segment, exports of ready-to-eat products, such as seaweed and processed fish products, advanced 3.8 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively, over the cited period. Th

March 3, 2021

S. Korea unveils additional support to virus-hit airlines

South Korea on Wednesday unveiled another set of measures to support airlines hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in the latest move to help airlines stay afloat during the crisis. The government will continue to reduce the airport usage fee for the airlines until June, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement, adding the fee will be lowered by 45.7 billion won ($40.6 million). The ministry said it will later consider whether to extend the fee reduction again by tak

March 3, 2021

Corporate loan growth decelerates in Q4 amid pandemic

Loans extended to companies in South Korea grew at a slow pace in the fourth quarter of last year, as manufacturing firms got fewer loans amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The outstanding amount of corporate loans came to 1,393.6 trillion won ($1.23 trillion) at the end of December last year, up 27.7 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It compared with a 37.8 trillion-won rise tallied in the third quarter

March 3, 2021

Internet use jumps in 2020 amid pandemic

The average amount of time South Koreans spent using the internet reached over 20 hours per week last year, 2.7 hours more than the time spent the previous year amid the stay-at-home trend driven by the pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. South Koreans used the internet 20.1 hours a week on average last year, compared with 17.4 hours the previous year and 16.5 hours in 2018, according to the report from the Ministry of Science and ICT that surveyed 60,000 people over the age of 3. The report

March 3, 2021

S. Korea to extend online religious activity support amid pandemic

South Korea's ICT ministry said Wednesday it will extend support for online religious activities until next month due to continued COVID-19 infections across the country. The Ministry of Science and ICT first introduced support for such activities in April last year, such as providing network data and technical assistance to religious organizations, to discourage in-person meetings to prevent COVID-19 infections. Under the support measures, the ministry also plans to provide 100 gigabytes of d

March 3, 2021

Actors Jo Jung-suk, Park Min-young named exemplary taxpayers

South Korean actors Jo Jung-suk and Park Min-young have received presidential citations for being good taxpayers, according to tax agency officials Wednesday. The two are among 1,057 exemplary taxpayers picked by the National Tax Service, they said, adding the actors will cooperate with the agency as public relations ambassadors this year. Jo and Park as model taxpayers are free from tax audits for three years as a reward. Other exemplary taxpayers get the same benefits, but for up to two yea

March 3, 2021

Regulator approves Emart's takeover of pro baseball club

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has approved a deal by Emart Inc., the country's biggest discount store chain, to buy the professional baseball club owned by energy and telecom giant SK Group. Emart, a unit of retail giant Shinsegae Group, agreed in January to buy the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) from SK Telecom Co., the top mobile carrier, for 135.2 billion won ($122 million). The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it has given the green light t

March 3, 2021

Samsung tops Latin American smartphone market in 2020: report

Samsung Electronics Co. further expanded its presence in the Latin American smartphone market last year to cement its leading status amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Wednesday. The South Korean tech giant accounted for 40.5 percent of smartphone shipments in Latin America in 2020, up from 38 percent from a year earlier, to remain as the region's largest smartphone vendor, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. Samsung led all Latin American countries during

March 3, 2021

Seoul stocks open tad higher amid investor wariness of bond yield hike

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday as investors took a wait-and-see mode over prospects of a post-pandemic bond yield hike. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 3.88 points, or 0.13 percent, to 3,047.75 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a muted start after the three key stock indexes on Wall Street dipped over speculation of early inflation, heralded by a bond yield hike late last week. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composit

March 3, 2021

KT, LG Uplus invest in homegrown app market for minority stake

Major South Korean telecom operators KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. said Wednesday they invested a total of 26 billion won ($23.1 million) for a minority stake in the homegrown app market ONE store, bolstering the smaller local rival to Google's Play store. KT has invested 21 billion won for a 3.1 percent stake, while LG Uplus has clinched a 0.7 percent stake with 5 billion won, according to a joint statement from the mobile carriers. The two telecom operators join the existing majority sharehold

March 3, 2021

Hyundai Motor's US sales dip 8.8% in Feb. on bad weather

LOS ANGELES -- South Korea's leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. saw its US sales drop nearly 9 percent in February from a year earlier due to bad weather, company data showed Tuesday. Hyundai Motor sold 48,333 vehicles last month, down 8.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Hyundai Motor America, the firm's US subsidiary. Sales to general consumers fell 2 percent on-year, and those to companies and rental car providers plunged 47 percent. Hyundai Motor said this year's F

March 3, 2021

Samsung introduces 2021 TV lineup

Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday introduced its 2021 TV lineup, which includes new Mini LED and Micro LED TVs in various sizes, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to cement its leadership in the global TV market. The world's largest TV maker said at its Unbox & Discover online event that its new Neo QLED TV, which was first unveiled at the all-digital Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021 in January, will be launched globally starting in South Korea. The Neo QLED TV, which uses Quantum

March 3, 2021