GS starts startup accelerator program to foster eco-friendly businesses

GS is launching a startup accelerator program to foster environmentally friendly business startups, the South Korean conglomerate said Sunday. Initiating “GS Challenge: Growth Through Sustainability,” the group said it is looking for biotech ventures seeking to expand their business with technology in three sectors -- environment-friendly materials, waste recycling and pollution mitigation and disease diagnostics and health care solutions. GS Group’s program is operated join

Jan. 31, 2021

Korean investors turn net sellers of GameStop shares

South Korean investors were net sellers of US-based video game retailer GameStop solely on the day when the short squeeze started to materialize, data showed Sunday. Korean investors -- both individuals and corporations -- net sold GameStop shares worth $54 million on Tuesday, according to the latest data from the Korea Securities Depository. Trading data from Wednesday, when GameStop‘s share price peaked, was not available as the foreign securities settlement date is three business days

Jan. 31, 2021

BlackRock emerges as LG Display blockholder

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, owned over 5 percent of Seoul-based LG Display ordinary shares as of January without the purpose of shareholder engagement, a filing showed Sunday. BlackRock Fund Advisor, a fully owned subsidiary of BlockRock, and its 13 specially related parties held a combined 17.8 million common shares in the South Korean company for 375.1 billion won ($335.7 million) as of Jan. 22. They have some 100,000 shares in the form of American depositary receipts

Jan. 31, 2021

[Newsmaker] Family, business community mourns KCC honorary chairman

Local business leaders paid tribute on Sunday to KCC’s Honorary Chairman Chung Sang-young, who died Saturday at the age of 84. The youngest brother of the late Hyundai Group Honorary Chairman Chung Ju-young, the KCC chief suffered from a chronic illness and had been hospitalized recently after his health deteriorated. He was the only surviving member of his generation within the legendary Chung family that built South Korea’s big companies, including Hyundai, in postwar Korea. M

Jan. 31, 2021

Number of overdraft accounts on rise amid bull market

The number of new credit loans via overdraft accounts has been on a sharp rise as South Korean retail investors are scrambling to borrow money for stock investment, fueled by a recent market bull run, industry data showed Sunday. The five major banks here -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup -- saw their customers open a total of 43,143 overdraft accounts between Jan.1-28, which equates to a combined average of nearly 2,000 daily. The overdraft balance surged by 1.21 trillion w

Jan. 31, 2021

No. of airport passengers in S. Korea falls for 1st time in 12 years amid pandemic

The number of passengers using South Korean airports fell sharply last year due to the fallout of the new coronavirus outbreak, marking the first drop in 12 years, data showed Sunday. The number of people using 15 airports across the nation came to 65 million last year, down 58.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the first time that the number of airport passengers declined since 2008, when the country was in the midst of the global fina

Jan. 31, 2021

S. Korea's exports of EVs shoot up 66% in 2020: KITA

South Korea's exports of electric vehicles (EVs) advanced nearly 66 percent on-year in 2020, data showed Sunday, despite the overall slump in the automobile industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Outbound shipments of EVs came to $3.9 billion in 2020, marking the first time for the volume to surpass that of hybrid cars, whose exports came to $2.5 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. EVs accounted for more than half of the combined outbou

Jan. 31, 2021

S. Korean retail investors buy net W26tr worth of stocks in Jan.

South Korean retail investors snapped up a net 25.8 trillion won ($23 billion) worth of local stocks in January alone, data showed Sunday, in the latest sign of their relentless buying spree. Individual investors bought a net 22.3 trillion won worth of stocks in the main market and a net 3.5 trillion won of shares in the secondary-KOSDAQ market in January, according to the data compiled by the bourse operator Korea Exchange. The figure amounted to 40 percent of their total net stock purchases,

Jan. 31, 2021

Telcos bolster teleconference services amid pandemic

South Korean telecom operators are redoubling efforts to support teleconference and virtual education services as the prolonged pandemic limits in-person contact and encourages work-from-home practices. Last week, major telecom operator KT Corp. said it will launch a new cloud-based video meeting platform, KT BizMeet, targeting businesses and education services. KT said the platform can host large online seminars, supporting up to 5,000 users in a single online meeting. The move follows the l

Jan. 31, 2021

[Weekender] Inside Korea’s interior design boom amid pandemic

From #OurHome #HomeDecorating to #OnlineHousewarming, Instagram lately is filled with hashtags and posts from users showcasing their homes and stylish interior design ideas. “May I know where you got the bookcase?” one comment read in response to a post showing a well-lit, nearly all-white room. Dambi, an author and blogger, who shared the original post on Instagram replied that it was from furniture company Basic Gagu. These types of interactions are fairly common in the online sp

Jan. 30, 2021

DRAM, NAND flash to be 2 fastest growing chips this year: report

DRAM and NAND flash are expected to be the two semiconductor products that outshine this year, a report showed Saturday, boding well for South Korean chipmakers that dominate the world's memory chip market. Sales growth for DRAM and NAND flash were projected to be 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively, making them the two sharpest-growing chips among the 33 integrated circuit products in 2021, according to the McClean Report released by market tracker IC Insights. DRAM, or dynamic random-a

Jan. 30, 2021

Steelmakers in talks with shipbuilders over prices

South Korean steelmakers have launched talks with shipbuilders over prices of thick steel plates, which are mainly used for shipbuilding, people familiar with the matter said Saturday. Posco, the country's largest steelmaker, said it is pushing to raise prices of thick steel plates -- a key material that accounts for about one-fifth of shipbuilding costs -- by up to 15 percent. The move is meant to reflect increased costs of iron ore, one of the main raw materials used in steel production. A h

Jan. 30, 2021

Seoul stocks tipped to remain under selling pressure next week

South Korean stocks are likely to come under selling pressure next week following this week's choppy trading, as market volatility is expected to remain high over massive foreign selling and profit-taking. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,976.21 points Friday, down 5.24 percent from a week ago. The index crashed below the 3,000-point level for the first time since surpassing the psychologically important threshold on Jan. 7. The fall was largely attributed to for

Jan. 30, 2021

Short sellers under siege everywhere have it really bad in Korea

Retail investors hell-bent on watching stocks go up have made life miserable for short sellers around the world. In South Korea, the government is piling on too. Lawmakers who oversee the country’s $2 trillion stock market are discussing plans to extend one of the world’s longest bans on short selling, amid pressure from mom-and-pop punters who drive more than two thirds of daily trading. Calls to make the 10-month ban permanent are mounting. More than 203,000 people have signed a

Jan. 30, 2021

Stock markets decline for four straight sessions on foreign sellout

South Korea’s stock markets fell for four consecutive sessions on Friday, driven by foreign investors‘ sellout. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index began the day in positive territory but fell below 3,000 points for the first time since Jan. 6 when it recorded 2,976.21 points. The index plunged 3.03 percent, or 92.84 points, to 2,976.21 points on Friday, marking the largest daily decline since Aug. 20, 2020. Foreign and institutional investors sold a net of 1.43 tri

Jan. 29, 2021

Mirae Asset Daewoo logs over W1tr in operating profit

South Korean brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo said Friday its consolidated operating profit exceeded 1 trillion won last year, making it the first Korean financial company to reach the milestone Its consolidated group operating profit surged by 52 percent to 1,104 trillion won ($988 million) in 2020, while its profit before tax increased 26 percent to 1.12 trillion won. It posted 818.3 billion won in net profit, a 23 percent on-year increase. The company said it ushered in an era of over 1

Jan. 29, 2021

KNOC to unload North Sea assets: reports

State-run Korea National Oil Corp. is seeking to sell off its stakes in oil and gas fields in the British, Dutch and Danish North Sea, according to foreign media reports. The KNOC, whose debt ratio stood at 3,415.5 percent in 2019, is attempting to dispose of parts or all of its North Sea subsidiary Dana Petroleum to secure liquidity. Dana Petroleum is a British oil company acquired 100 percent by the KNOC. Dana Petroleum in January launched a process to sell a 10 percent stake in the Gre

Jan. 29, 2021

Doosan’s W1tr coal-fired power plants in Vietnam connected to grid

Doosan Heavy Industries’ two coal-fired plants worth 1 trillion won ($896.7 million) in Vietnam have been connected to the country’s electricity grid, according to foreign media reports. In 2015, Doosan won Song Hau 1 project that consists of two 600-megawatt thermal power plants from the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group. The plant No. 1 was synchronized in November, and plant No. 2 was synchronized Wednesday. When a power plant is synchronized, its means the plant is successfully est

Jan. 29, 2021

SK Innovation bleeds W2.5tr in operating losses as revenue shrinks 30%

SK Innovation’s revenue fell to 34.16 trillion won ($34.16 billion) last year, a 30.7 percent plunge from 49.87 trillion won on-year, as the pandemic dealt a massive blow to its petrochemical business. According to the South Korean battery-to-petrochemical giant’s regulatory filing on Friday, the company posted an operating loss worth 2.5 trillion won, swinging to red from an operating profit 1.2 trillion won in 2019. The revenue of SK Innovation’ petrochemical business,

Jan. 29, 2021

SsangYong Motor Q4 loss widens amid pandemic

SsangYong Motor Co., the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said Friday its fourth-quarter net losses widened from a year earlier due to weak sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the three months ended December, net losses deepened to 173.6 billion won ($155 million) from 155.9 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. "Weaker sales and tougher competition with rivals weighed on the quarterly results as the COVID-19 pandemic p

Jan. 29, 2021