Kospi firms’ operating profits jump on Samsung Electronics

Companies on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi overall saw their combined operating profit in the first six months of this year rise 7 percent from a year earlier, thanks to Samsung Electronics, the biggest company on the main board by revenue. According to Korea Exchange data Friday, 696 firms on the Kospi reported 746 trillion won ($562.2 billion) in revenue between January and June, up 19 percent from the previous year. Operating profits came to 54 trillion won, a 7 percent jump. But the

Aug. 19, 2022

Seoul shares open lower amid uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes

Seoul shares opened lower Friday amid uncertainty over the US Federal Reserve's future rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 10.53 points, or 0.42 percent, to trade at 2,497.52 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks came off to a lackluster start in the face of overnight gains on Wall Street. The Fed's latest minutes hinted at a possible slowdown in inflation growth. In July, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points for a second straight t

Aug. 19, 2022

FSC issues warning over unregistered crypto firms

Investors are being discouraged from using 16 cryptocurrency services companies operating in South Korea without registration from the Financial Services Commission, the top financial regulator said Thursday. The firms, all foreign, are KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, ZB.com, Bitglobal, CoinW, CoinEX, AAX, ZoomEX, Poloniex, BTCEX, BTCC, DigiFinex and Pionex. The firms are expected to face police probes for having failed to report to the agency their plans to engage in business with Kor

Aug. 19, 2022

Seoul shares down amid Fed rate hike woes; Korean won sharply down

Seoul shares closed lower Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve's minutes that hinted at more aggressive interest rate hikes to temper inflation. The Korean won sharply fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.42 points, or 0.33 percent, to close at 2,508.05 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 370.84 million shares worth some 6.98 trillion won ($5.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 542 to 301. Institutions sol

Aug. 18, 2022

S. Korea's fiscal deficit widens W22tr in H1

South Korea's fiscal deficit increased 22.2 trillion won ($16.9 billion) in the first six months of this year from a year ago as the government revved up spending to tackle the fallout of the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The managed fiscal balance, a key gauge of fiscal health calculated on a stricter term, posted a deficit of 101.9 trillion won in the January-June period, larger than a shortfall of 79.7 trillion won a year earlier, according to the finance ministry. The increased defici

Aug. 18, 2022

Seoul shares open lower on Fed's minutes

Seoul shares opened lower Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as the US Federal Reserve may keep up its aggressive monetary tightening amid global recession woes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 24.69 points, or 0.98 percent, to trade at 2,491.78 points as of 9:15 a.m. In the Fed's latest minutes, released Wednesday (US time), policymakers expected the economy to expand in the second half of 2022 and made it clear that they intend to continue raising rates

Aug. 18, 2022

Regulator launches task force in push for crypto framework

A joint task force launched by the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday kicked off its first monthly meeting on setting up a framework for digital assets like bitcoin, a week after the top financial regulator said it would work to remove regulatory uncertainty facing South Korea’s crypto industry. Introducing a legal framework for cryptocurrencies is part of the larger deregulation initiative the FSC has been pursuing since President Yoon Suk-yeol, who had pledged to make that happe

Aug. 17, 2022

Seoul shares snap 3-day winning streak ahead of Fed minutes release

Seoul shares snapped their three-day winning streak Wednesday as investors await the latest minutes of the Federal Reserve that will give them an idea of its future rate policy to combat high inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 17.05 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 2,516.47 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 410 million shares worth some 7.04 trillion won ($5.4 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers

Aug. 17, 2022

Samsung fund invests $15m in US biotech Senda

Samsung Life Science Fund has invested $15 million in US biotech Senda Biosciences in efforts to foster core technology of next-generation biopharmaceuticals, Samsung Biologics said Wednesday. Senda Biosciences is a therapeutics platform company specialized in programming to the cell by using the code from natural nanoparticles. The US biotech’s platform includes a messenger RNA engine and the first-ever atlas of nature-derived programmable systems at the molecular level and across all k

Aug. 17, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of Fed minutes

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday as investors await the latest Federal Reserve's minutes that will give them an idea of its future rate policy to combat inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.71 points, or 0.26 percent, to trade at 2,540.23 points as of 9:15 a.m. The main index got a boost amid market speculation that inflation pressure is peaking, making a global recession less likely, analysts said. The Fed minutes will be available Wednesday (US tim

Aug. 17, 2022

FSS chief vows probe into suspicious short selling, wire transfers

The Financial Supervisory Service will look into financial institutions that handled an unusually large volume of short selling when the local markets were jumpy, the watchdog’s chief said Tuesday, as retail investors step up calls for greater oversight over the practice they say leaves them outgunned by institutional investors. Individual investors have long complained that the bearish market practice that profits from a drop in share prices is not as rewarding as it should be as regulat

Aug. 16, 2022

Seoul stocks up for 3rd day on expectations of slower monetary tightening

South Korean shares advanced for a third straight session Tuesday amid investors' speculation that central banks in major economies may tone down their monetary tightening after weak economic data from China. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 5.58 points, or 0.22 percent, to close at 2,533.52 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 389 million shares worth some 7.9 trillion won ($6 billion), with losers outnumbering

Aug. 16, 2022

S. Korean retail investors rush to overseas ETFs under bear market signals

South Korean retail investors have been bagging up overseas exchange traded-funds in recent weeks as the global stock market has been struggling under bear market signals, data showed Tuesday. Retail investors interested in overseas investments have added more high-return, high-risk ETFs to their portfolios, seeking to profit from the volatile global market. Of the top 10 overseas investments from local investors from July 13 to Friday, seven were ETFs, latest data compiled by the Korea Secur

Aug. 16, 2022

Seoul stocks open slightly higher on tech gains

South Korean shares opened a tad higher Tuesday led by tech advances, tracking overnight US gains, despite woes over China's economic slowdown. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had added 7.57 points, or 0.3 percent, to trade at 2,535.51 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks got off to a solid start despite weaker-than-expected economic data from China, the country's top trading partner. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics advanced 0.33 percent as its de facto chief Lee Jae-yon

Aug. 16, 2022

Korean bank turning away foreigner due to long name ‘discriminatory,’ says rights watchdog

A South Korean bank’s rejection of a foreign customer’s request to open a new bank account due to the person’s full name being deemed “too long” is “discriminatory,” the state rights watchdog said Monday. A foreign resident here, whose name was withheld, filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea after a request to open a personal business account was rejected at a local bank branch in July last year, a document released by the

Aug. 15, 2022

Foreign holdings of Korean stocks hit 13-year low

Foreign holdings of South Koreans stocks on the benchmark Kospi dipped to 606.2 trillion won ($464.1 billion), or 30.51 percent of the total, Thursday -- the lowest level since August 2009 as fears over US Federal Reserve rate hikes and a possible recession have dampened investor optimism. Data from the Korea Exchange showed Sunday heavy net selling by foreign investors this year. They had offloaded 10.6 trillion won in shares as of Friday. The Kospi closed at 2,527.94 that day, a 15 percent dr

Aug. 15, 2022

Seoul shares edge up amid persistent rate hike concerns

South Korean stocks closed slightly higher Friday amid persistent worries about the US Federal Reserve's pace of its monetary tightening. The local currency ended almost unchanged against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 4.16 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,527.94. Trading volume was moderate at 437.8 million shares worth 7.89 trillion won ($6.05 billion), with gainers outstripping decliners 565 to 275. US producer prices for July slowed

Aug. 12, 2022

Seoul shares open slightly higher amid persistent rate hike concerns

South Korean stocks opened marginally higher Friday amid persistent woes over the US Federal Reserve's monetary tightening. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 3.85 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,527.63 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The index started 0.16 percent lower at the opening bell. Investors digested the softer-than-expected US consumer prices for July, released Wednesday (US time), as a sign of cooling inflation that raised expectations that the Federal Reserve

Aug. 12, 2022

Seoul shares rally as softened US inflation eases steep rate hike woes

South Korean stocks jumped 1.73 percent Thursday, taking a cue from an overnight Wall Street rally after softer-than-expected US inflation data helped ease worries about a drastic rate hike by the Federal Reserve, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 42.90 points to 2,523.78. Trading volume was moderate at 495.5 million shares worth 9.39 trillion won ($7.26 billion), with advancing stocks far outstripping de

Aug. 11, 2022

Foreigners become net buyers of S. Korean stocks for 1st time in 6 months in July

Foreign investors became net buyers of South Korean stocks for the first time in six months in July on expectations that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of monetary tightening, central bank data showed Thursday. Foreigners' stock investment funds recorded a net inflow of $160 million in July, a turnaround from a net outflow of $3.01 billion the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first net inflow of foreign funds into the local stock marke

Aug. 11, 2022