Contactless services have also gone mainstream in the second-hand car market with used car dealers increasingly adopting mobile technology to offer credible information on used cars. Joining in on the trend, auto financing firm Hyundai Capital launched an artificial intelligence-powered mobile platform in September last year, which helps consumers avoid low-quality used cars -- often called lemons and picked peaches -- in their recommendations. The used car mobile platform, named Check, has

Market Jan. 24, 2021

South Korea received a top rating in an environment, social and governance assessment conducted by US credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Tuesday. Moody’s has recently announced a list of 144 countries assessing their capabilities in handling ESG issues, with five classifications, including “positive” at the top and “very highly negative” at the bottom. Korea was one of 11 nations who rated &ldq

Market Jan. 19, 2021

Stocks in carmaker Hyundai Motor and its auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis that Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun bought during the peak of the coronavirus crisis last year have tripled in value, according to data on Monday. When Hyundai Motor Group stocks hit the rock bottom in March last year, Chung purchased stocks valued more than 80 billion won. The purchase price of a Hyundai Motor share was 69,793 won and 135,294 won for a share in Hyundai Mobis. Based on the closing pri

Market Jan. 18, 2021

The amount of funds entrusted to South Korea’s three leading robo-adviser firms exceeded 1 trillion won ($906 million), highlighting the fast growth of non-face-to-face investment services during the coronavirus crisis, according to market data on Sunday. Robo-adviser or automated asset management companies Fount, AIM and December & Company currently manage a total of 1.25 trillion won, up 402.9 percent from 247.9 billion won a year ago. Robo-advisers offer highly tailored asset mana

Market Jan. 17, 2021

NXC, the holding company of South Korea’s largest game developer Nexon, has invested $16 million in SpaceX, the aerospace company run by electric carmaker Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the company said Thursday. “NXC invested $16 million in SpaceX’s fundraising round in August, in which the spaceflight company issued convertible preferred stocks,” said an NXC official, declining to comment on details of the deal. SpaceX is said to have issued preferred stocks at the time to ra

Market Jan. 14, 2021

Retail investors’ deposits for stock investments reached a record 72.3 trillion won ($66 billion) as of Monday, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association, a self-regulatory organization for the financial sector, Wednesday. It is the first time that the outstanding deposits for stock investment crossed the 70 trillion won mark since related data started to be compiled in 1998. The outstanding balance, which came in at 67.5 trillion won last Friday, added a whopping 4.8 tril

Market Jan. 13, 2021

The recent news of e-commerce unicorn Coupang going public as early as March has boosted stocks of partner companies in South Korea on Tuesday. Dongbang, a logistics firm that handles Coupang’s delivery services, saw its stock jump by a daily upper limit of 29.96 percent to reach 3,915 won ($3.56) in intraday trading on Tuesday. It also soared by the same percentage point a day earlier to close at 3,015 won. Media content platform company KTH’s stock also jumped by the daily limit

Market Jan. 12, 2021

Total sales transactions in South Korea’s housing market last year crossed the 300 trillion-won mark for the first time over abundant liquidity and low interest rates, according to a report released by property platform operator Zigbang on Monday. The report, based on the data of real transaction prices of houses last year, showed the sales volume reached an all-time high of 360.8 trillion won ($328.6 billion) in value, up from 246.2 trillion won in 2019. The previous record was 262.8 t

Market Jan. 11, 2021

While overseas global corporations such as Elon Musk‘s Space X, are leading to charge to turn the stuff of science fiction into reality, in South Korea, the brave companies eyeing the likes of space travel and humanoid robots are not its hardware giants, but small startups. Hybrid rocket engine maker Innospace is a prime example. The Sejong-based startup, led by a former Hanwha engineer, manufactures small “hybrid” rocket motors that use a combination of solid fuel and liquid

Market Jan. 9, 2021

After US Congress confirmed Joe Biden as the presidential election winner, leading US stock benchmarks surged to record highs on Thursday (local time). South Korea’s main bourse also hit an all-time high in intraday trading on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the index for 30 top-performing US firms, rose 0.69 percent to 31,041.13 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.56 percent to 13,067.48. The S&P 500, which tracks the stocks of 500 large-cap US firms, increased

Market Jan. 8, 2021

Leaders of state-run investment institutes and private brokerage firms here said they would accelerate digital transformation of the market and beef up their risk management capabilities in the face of lingering pandemic uncertainties. The Korea Exchange, the nation‘s sole securities exchange operator, said it would seek ways to expand the market entries of promising companies and secure market fairness by strengthening regulations on short selling. “The KRX will support innovative

Market Jan. 4, 2021

Holdings of small shareholders in the nation’s largest company, Samsung Electronics, grew to 6.5 percent in 2020, up from 3.6 percent at the end of 2019, data showed Sunday. The number of small stockholders is expected to have more than tripled from 568,313 to 2 million during the same period. Small shareholders refer to individual investors who have less than a 1 percent stake. The portion of Samsung shares held by retail traders in 2019 stood at 3.6 percent in end-2019 while domestic

Market Jan. 3, 2021

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has become South Korea’s richest stakeholder, replacing his father’s name that held the title for decades, data showed Wednesday. The vice chairman’s stock value stood at 9.07 trillion won ($8.35 billion) as of Tuesday, nearly 2 trillion won more than last year, according to CEO Score, a local corporate researcher. Stock ownership of the 49-year-old heir to the world‘s largest chipmaker is set to grow, as he and his famil

Market Dec. 30, 2020

South Korea’s housing price rally, sparked by a supply shortage and tightened regulations throughout the year, is likely to continue next year, stoking concerns about housing market instability.　 According to KB Financial Group in a report, housing prices across the country will see an upward march overall next year while two-year rentals requiring a refundable lump-sum deposit in lieu of monthly rent, called “jeonse,” will also be more expensive. The report, based on a surve

Market Dec. 29, 2020

Cryptocurrency Bitcoin remained on an upward trend Monday, after crossing the 30 million-won ($27,300) mark for the first time in the South Korean market over the weekend. Hitting a high of 30.59 million won, the digital coin traded above the level of 30 million won throughout morning trading, according to Upbit, a cryptocurrency exchange run by financial technology firm Dunamu. The price of one bitcoin came in at an all-time high of 31.8 million won on Sunday. Early this year, the digital c

Market Dec. 29, 2020