Retail investors upset with uncontrolled short selling

With the nation’s stock market plummeting and investors offloading shares en masse, tens of thousands have flocked to sign online petitions calling for a ban on short selling. As of Sunday afternoon, over 49,000 Koreans have signed 10 online petitions from end-January, demanding that the short selling of local securities be abolished or at least temporarily banned when stock indexes drop over 10 percent. Short selling is a strategy of borrowing, selling and repurchasing stocks to return

March 8, 2020

Coronavirus puts Korean venture firms on edge

The coronavirus fear is increasing financial burdens on listed South Korean venture firms as they are facing more calls for cash redemption from investors. Investors in firms listed on Korea’s development bourse Kosdaq have cashed out their combined 361.3 billion won ($303.4 million) investment in mezzanine bonds -- convertible bonds and bond warrants -- from January until Friday, prior to their due maturity date, according to regulatory filings. This marked a 48.4 percent increase on-y

March 8, 2020

Gold trading dazzles as stock market loses sheen

In contrast with the slump in major global stock markets amid the continuing spread of the new coronavirus, gold trading in South Korea has posted stellar returns this year, local experts said Sunday. According to data compiled by Daishin Securities, gold has recorded the highest investment earnings rate so far this year. The price of a gold bar at the Korea Gold Exchange -- a private gold exchange here -- stood at 64,010 won ($53.80) per gram as of Friday, surging 13.21 percent from the end

March 8, 2020

Businesses piggyback on coronavirus crisis with corona-related trademarks

Applications to register trademarks reminiscent of the deadly novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, are on a rapid rise in Korea, according to data from the Korean Intellectual Property Office. Since the government reported the first confirmed case of the acute respiratory disease on Jan. 20, a total of eight trademarks christened “corona” have been applied for at the patent office -- from both individuals and companies.  The growth in applications of such trademarks coincided wi

March 8, 2020

NPS likely to intervene in Hanjin KAL’s governance issues

South Korea’s state pension fund said Friday that it would exercise its voting rights at Hanjin KAL, the holding firm of logistics conglomerate Hanjin Group, an apparent move to intervene in an ongoing leadership feud among the founding family members. “The National Pension Service has decided to exercise its voting rights at Hanjin KAL and GIIR on its own after retrieving them from its proxy agents,” said the state-run pension fund operator after a meeting among its commit

March 6, 2020

Coronavirus outbreak boosts gold transactions

As the deadly coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) is sparking fears of a global pandemic, investors in South Korea are flocking to safe haven assets, gold in particular, according to data Friday. The accumulative transactions of gold in the first two months of this year at the Korea Gold Exchange, a private gold exchange here, stood at 27,243, up 192 percent from the same period last year. The exchange said investors’ increasing preference toward safe haven assets is behind the drastic gro

March 6, 2020

Citibank, KDB reject watchdog’s compensation plan over KIKO

Citibank Korea and Korea Development Bank will not accomodate financial authorities’ earlier arbitrary recommendation concerning compensation for disputed currency-linked derivatives sold several years ago, officials of the respective banks said Thursday. “After extensive internal discussions and consultations with the board of directors, Citibank does not propose to proceed as recommended (by the FSS),” the Korean subsidiary of the New York-based bank said in a release. &

March 5, 2020

[Exclusive] Lutronic faces lawsuit in US for alleged trade secrets theft

The US subsidiary of South Korea’s Lutronic is facing a lawsuit for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets through former employees of Cutera it hired recently, according to documents reviewed by The Korea Herald. Aesthetic laser equipment maker Cutera -- listed on Nasdaq -- claimed that forensic research results showed that Lutronic Aesthetic had poached 13 employees, encouraging them to steal trade secrets and destroy evidence until February. In return, they were rewarded with stock o

March 5, 2020

SK Networks shares spike on W1.3tr fuel retailer sell-off

SK Networks shares rose sharply Thursday on anticipations that its decision to divest its energy retailer unit for 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) would improve the balance sheet. Its shares closed 14.5 percent higher on Kospi bourse compared to the previous session. Analysts said the price was buoyed by expectations that SK Networks would mitigate its debt burden from its acquisition of AJ Rent A Car in December 2019, carry out a 100 billion won share buyback and overhaul the trading firm&rsq

March 5, 2020

Parliament turns down revision proposal for online-only banks

The National Assembly on Thursday rejected a proposed bill to ease regulations for online-only banks, which will deal a heavy blow to K bank, one of South Korea’s two online banks that is struggling to raise additional funds due to regulatory hurdles. The bill was unexpectedly voted down 82:75 with 27 abstaining at the plenary session, although it received the green light from the legislation and judiciary committee a day before, raising anticipation it would boost the fintech industry

March 5, 2020

Stock-related funds lure investors despite virus spread

Despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the amount of funds floating around South Korea’s stock market hit an all-time high, market data showed Thursday. The amount of capital available for stock-related funds marked nearly 124.91 trillion won ($105.3 billion) as of end-February, up 8.77 trillion won from a month earlier, according to latest market data. The funds refer to equities looking for investment opportunities such as investor deposits at brokerage firms, repurchase agreement

March 5, 2020

Property transactions between parents-children grow

An increasing number of multiple homeowners in South Korea are choosing to give real estate to their children instead of selling it, data showed Wednesday. The number of apartments transferred from parents to children stood at 1,632 in January -- an increase of 305 from December and the third-highest jump since the compilation of relevant data began in 2006, the Korea Appraisal Board said. Meanwhile, separate data released by the Seoul City government showed that apartment transactions in

March 5, 2020

Woori, Hana face W36.5b fine, 6-month suspension for DLF fiasco

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Wednesday slapped a combined 36.5 billion won in ($30.8 million) fines on Woori Bank and Hana Bank, along with a six-month ban on attracting investors‘ money into privately pooled funds. The Financial Services Commission’s final decision indicates that the authorities held the banks responsible for their lack of internal control, as they failed to protect retail investors from potential risks implied in the structured products known as

March 4, 2020

Stock market turns bullish on stimulus package, Fed rate cut

Seoul stocks extended their gains Wednesday, as investors welcomed a new stimulus package of the government to stem the economic fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak and the US Fed’s latest rate cut. The benchmark Kospi headed north throughout the day and closed at 2,059.33 -- up 45.18 points, or 2.24 percent from the previous session -- as foreign investors purchased local stocks. Offshore investors net purchased 152.7 billion won stocks. Individual and institutional investors, ho

March 4, 2020

Seoul FX reserves slightly drop in Feb.

South Korea's foreign exchange (FX) reserves dropped slightly from a month earlier in February, central bank data showed Wednesday, largely on the strengthening of the US dollar that reduced the dollar value of the country's reserves held in other currencies. The country's FX reserves came to $409.17 billion as of end-February, down $480 million from the record high of $409.65 billion tallied a month before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK attributed the drop to the

March 4, 2020

Cape Industries faces proxy war over directors, dividends

South Korea’s ship engine parts maker Cape Industries is facing a proxy fight as its activist shareholders are opposing the firm’s excessive compensation to executives despite piling losses. The investor group, led by KH Investment, has proposed a cut on Cape’s four executives pay to half -- 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million) maximum if combined -- and recommended candidates for outside directors and auditors. The alliance is also demanding the first dividend payout of the group

March 3, 2020

Demand for personal credit loan grows, home loans falls

The amount of personal credit loans grew while mortgage loans fell last month, data showed Tuesday, apparently due to the South Korean government’s tighter mortgage restrictions since last year. Outstanding credit loans stood at 110.9 trillion won, up 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) last month from 109.7 trillion won in January. The nation saw the figure drop 225 billion won on-month in the first month this year. Meanwhile, mortgages owed by Korean households increased 956.3 billion wo

March 3, 2020

Kospi recovers 2,000-mark over Fed rate cut remark

  Korea’s benchmark Kospi on Monday rose less than 1 percent, barely recovering past the 2,000-point mark after crashing in the previous session over expectations on an interest rate cut in the US.  The local currency closed at 1,193.70 won against the US dollar, strengthening 20 won from the previous session’s close. The benchmark bourse Kospi opened slightly high at 1,997.03 -- rising 10.02 points, or 0.5 percent, from the previous session. It dipped below 1,980 points

March 2, 2020

KCGI woos Delta Air Lines for Hanjin control

A coalition led by South Korea’s activist private equity fund Korea Corporate Governance Improvement called Delta Air Lines a “partner” in its pursuit for a control over Hanjin Group and its crown jewel Korean Air in a note Monday. This reflects KCGI’s drastic turn from the previous week when the activist investor questioned Delta’s increase in Hanjin KAL stake -- to 11 percent in February -- as the family-controlled Hanjin Group had entered into a proxy battle tha

March 2, 2020

Stocks of firms selling coronavirus testing kits soar

Shares of South Korean companies dedicated to novel coronavirus testing kits soared on Monday, amid rising demand. Local diagnostic kit makers are launching devices that detect coronavirus infections, which allow authorities to test over 10,000 people a day as of current -- from around 1,000 two weeks prior. One of them is Seegene, a maker of the real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis assays. The Seoul-based company closed at 40,400 won ($33.8) per share, up 10.7 percent Monday, on the

March 2, 2020