Seoul stocks snap 3-day losing streak on eased concerns over oil prices, rate hikes

South Korean stocks rebounded Wednesday on the back of a steep fall in oil prices, ending a three-day losing streak. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 37.70 points, or 1.44 percent, at 2,659.23 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 727 million shares worth some 9.2 trillion won ($7.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 734 to 128. Institutions bought a net 365 billion won, while foreigners sold 133 billion won and r

March 16, 2022

Toss Bank to pay daily deposit interest

Toss Bank, South Korea’s internet only bank, said Wednesday it will pay daily deposit interest to its customers for the first time in the banking industry. Toss Bank account owners can simply click on the “receive now” button to be paid with daily deposit interest, instead of receiving it monthly. With the service, users can withdraw their money including the deposit interest at any time they want. For instance, if customers deposit 1 million won ($805) into the account, the

March 16, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from a plunge in oil prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 18.55 points, or 0.71 percent, to trade at 2,640.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 2.92 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.8 percent, largely as oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel amid talks between Russia and Ukraine. Inves

March 16, 2022

Young Koreans eye Yoon‘s W100m savings account scheme

Young South Koreans are anticipating the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s version of its state-backed savings account, with a goal of helping investors accrue 100 million won ($80,500). The state-backed savings account would allow South Korean residents aged between 19 and 34 to subscribe and submit a monthly payment of a maximum 700,000 won for a 10-year term, with an annual yield of 3.5 percent, a booklet of Yoon’s presidential pledges published by the People Power Party sh

March 15, 2022

Housing biz sentiment dips for 3rd month in March

South Korea's housing market sentiment shrank for the third straight month in March amid waning hopes of business improvements, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Housing Institute said its housing business sentiment index (HBSI), based on a survey of about 500 construction firms, stood at 66.2 for this month, down 1.7 points from the previous month. Yet March's on-month decrease was smaller than the previous month's decline of 9.7 points. A reading below 100 means the number of companies forecast

March 15, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower ahead of Fed meeting

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, taking a cue from overnight Wall Street losses ahead of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had decreased 13.62 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,632.03 points as of 9:15 a.m. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 2.04 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to start hiking the interest rates from near zero this week, as the Uk

March 15, 2022

Court finds Hana chairman nominee responsible for derivatives misselling

A Seoul court on Monday found Hana Financial Group Chairman-nominee Ham Young-joo responsible for Hana Bank’s improper sales of derivatives-linked products that caused a fiasco in 2019 after investors saw huge losses. Defying market expectations, the Seoul Administrative Court found the chairman-nominee and then-Hana Bank CEO guilty of failing to appropriately supervise the bank’s misselling of troubled products to its consumers. The court nodded to the financial authorities&rsquo

March 14, 2022

NongHyup gets preliminary approval to operate in Noida, India

South Korea’s NongHyup Bank has received preliminary approval from India’s financial authorities to establish a branch in the South Asian nation’s planned industrial city of Noida. If the branch is established, it will mark NongHyup’s second business entity in India, after its New Delhi office opened in 2016. The move to open a branch in Noida is part of NongHyup’s plan to have more than 14 business entities in 12 nations across the world by 2025. It opened a bran

March 14, 2022

Seoul stocks open lower ahead of US Fed meeting

South Korean stocks opened lower Monday, as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 8.25 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,653.03 points as of 9:15 a.m. Stocks traded bearish, led by losses in tech companies that are usually more sensitive to borrowing costs, while financial heavyweights advanced. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise its policy interest rates in March. Inves

March 14, 2022

Foreigners stay net sellers of S. Korean stocks for 2nd month in Feb.

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks in February amid growing jitters over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, data showed Monday. Foreigners offloaded a net 2.58 trillion won ($2.09 billion) worth of local stocks last month, marking the second straight month of net selling, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Offshore investors' net selling stood at 1.68 trillion won in January. Investors have been disheartened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine that be

March 14, 2022

Legal hurdle cleared for Hana vice chief to seek chairmanship

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of exercising his influence on a hiring request at Hana Bank when he was the CEO of the lender in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial that kicked off in June 2018 when the prosec

March 13, 2022

Foreign holdings of S. Korean stocks hit low on Ukraine war

Foreign holdings of South Korean shares dropped to less than one-third of the market capitalization, as the Ukraine war prompted a sell-off, data showed Sunday.　 As of Friday, foreigners held 666 trillion won ($538 billion) in Korean stocks, representing just 31.86 percent in ownership of the 2,091 trillion-won market. The lowest point of foreign ownership before was in February 2016, when the figure was 31.77. Foreign investors offloaded stocks worth a net 1.4 trillion won in January and resu

March 13, 2022

Foreign stock ownership hits 6-year low on Ukraine risk, US rate hike jitters

Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks fell to a six-year low, bourse data showed Sunday, as overseas investors preferred safer assets in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and ahead of a widely expected US rate hike. As of Friday, foreign investors held 666 trillion won (U$538 billion) worth of local stocks on the main KOSPI, accounting for 31.86 percent of the entire 2,091 trillion-won market capitalization, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange (KRX). The foreign ownership shrank

March 13, 2022

Legal hurdle cleared for Hana vice chief to seek chairmanship

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of receiving favors in exchange for getting his friend’s son hired at Hana Bank, when he was CEO in 2015. 　 The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial which kicked off in June 2018 when

March 11, 2022

[Newsmaker] Giant Saudi wealth fund gobbles up stakes in Korean game makers

Saudi Arabia is pouring money into South Korean game makers NCSoft and Nexon, doubling down on its bet in the gaming industry. Public Investment Fund, the Middle Eastern country’s sovereign wealth fund, acquired an additional 563,566 shares of NCSoft for about 290 billion won ($240 million) through six transactions between Feb. 8 to 16., according to a regulatory filing submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday. With the latest investment, PIF has become NCSoft’s s

March 11, 2022

What to expect from Yoon’s market policy change

Investors are bracing themselves for a bumpy ride ahead and keeping a close watch on how President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign pledges to cut capital gains tax and rein in corporate spinoffs will pan out. The president-elect, representing the conservative bloc, has proposed reversing capital gains taxes that the current liberal-leaning Moon administration has put on investors, saying removing them would help to revitalize the stock exchange. But Yoon faces an uphill battle in doing so

March 10, 2022

Banks concerned over Yoon's pledge to move headquarters out of Seoul

South Korea’s large financial companies are in agony over President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s election pledge to relocate several bank headquarters outside Seoul. In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s presidential election, then-conservative candidate Yoon made a pledge in both January and earlier this month to relocate the state-run Korea Development Bank to the nation’s southern port city of Busan. He added at a campaign rally in Busan last week that he would make effort

March 10, 2022

Seoul stocks open steeply higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Thursday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from a plunge in oil prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 49.71 points, or 1.9 percent, to trade at 2,672.11 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 3.59 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2 percent, largely as oil prices dipped more than 10 percent on expectations of a production increas

March 10, 2022

[Election 2022] Overwhelmed by Ukraine crisis, market unlikely to get election boost, experts say

Markets in South Korea enjoyed short-term post-election rallies in past presidential elections, but a similar uptick looks unlikely this time, mainly because of the war in Ukraine, but also because campaign pledges have offered little to buoy investors. This would be a return to form for the democratic era. In the six months after current President Moon Jae-in was sworn in, the Kospi rose 11.2 percent to 2,542.95. But the previous four presidents going back as far as the Kim Dae-jung governme

March 9, 2022

Loyal Samsung investors cash out as shares retreat

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics, whose shares are practically held by one out of every 10 South Koreans, is suffering from heavy selling by an army of once-loyal investors disappointed over the tech giant’s underperforming shares. The stocks have slid since January to fall below 70,000 won ($56) on Tuesday in a four-month low since November. Regulatory filings, revealed Tuesday, showed some 120,000 retail investors sold shares in Samsung Electronics in the fourth quarter last year,

March 9, 2022