In January, foreign investors held a record high of over 500 trillion won ($435 billion) in shares of listed companies in South Korea, according to the Finance Supervisory Service. Among the top five stocks foreigners have been collecting in the tech-heavy Kosdaq in January was SFA Engineering Corp., a display equipment and logistics equipment maker, which has been enjoying a recent boom in the semiconductor and display sectors. Foreign investors continued their buying spree for the company.

Feb. 12, 2017

Two months after leaders of the two Koreas -- the South’s Kim Dae-jung and North’s Kim Jong-il -- had a historic submit in 2000, a project to launch an economic zone in Kaesong, a North Korean city near the borders of the two Koreas, began. The idea was to create economic synergy by combing South Korea’s capital and technology and North Korea’s cheap labor and land. The South-North joint Kaesong industrial park, a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, produced its firs

Feb. 9, 2017

KEB Hana Bank was named the best private bank in digital client solutions by a global finance magazine, the bank said Wednesday. South Korea’s leading bank, owned by Hana Financial Group, received the Global Best PB in Digital Client Solutions award in New York on Tuesday. The award was bestowed by Global Finance, a finance magazine based in the US that surveys and picks the best players in various financial sectors every year. The bank’s performance in the private banking sector has been recogn

Companies Feb. 8, 2017

South Korea and Australia renewed an existing currency swap for another three years at a size doubling the previous deal, South Korea’s central bank announced on Wednesday. The governors of the central banks -- the Bank of Korea and the Reserve Bank of Australia -- signed a deal on Wednesday to extend the current deal, which was scheduled to expire on Feb. 22, for another three years.  They also agreed to double the size of the currency swap agreement to 10 billion Australian dollar

Feb. 8, 2017

South Korea’s struggling shipbuilders started the first month of 2017 with more orders than their competitors in China and Japan, according to data from a global shipping information firm on Tuesday. South Korean shipbuilders received a total of seven units in contracting volume of 330,000 compensated gross tonnage, a measurement to gauge the amount of work that goes into the construction of a vessel, according to UK-based Clarkson Research Service.  This includes two floating stor

Industry Feb. 7, 2017

Foreign investors held a record high of over 500 trillion won in shares of listed companies in South Korea in January. Foreign investors owned a total of 501.96 trillion won in shares of South Korea’s listed companies, adding 20.4 trillion won from the previous month or almost 100 trillion from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said Monday. They accounted for 32 percent of the total stock ownership, up from 31.2 percent in December. The prospect of the greenback weaken

Feb. 6, 2017

This is the 34th in a series of articles analyzing major companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- EdCJ E&M Corp.’s stock price leaped by almost 60 percent in late January driven by the popularity of its cable drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.” Before the tvN series featuring Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun turned into one of the most popular shows in December and January, the stock price of CJ E&M had stood at 53,400 won ($46.91) at the start of December, th

Feb. 5, 2017

South Korea’s current-account surplus narrowed in 2016 from a year ago, central data showed on Friday. The country‘s current account surplus stood at $98.68 billion in 2016, down from a surplus of $105.94 billion a year earlier.  The surplus was the second-largest since the government started to compile the data, but came as a decline in imports is greater than a decrease in exports, an official at the central bank said. “The exports declined last year but imports fel

Feb. 3, 2017

SK Engineering and Construction announced Friday it had inked a deal worth 3.7 trillion won ($3.23 billion) to build South Korea’s largest private power plant in Goseong, South Gyeongsang Province. The company will build two generator units at the thermal power plant, which will have a capacity of 1,040 megawatts. The company said it would apply top-notch technology to build an efficient power plant.  It will adopt a technology called “ultra super critical,” which can in

Companies Feb. 3, 2017

Korea’s exports grew for a third consecutive month in January to show the first double-digit growth in four years, preliminary data showed on Wednesday, offering hope to the country’s ailing economy. In January, the country’s exports jumped 11.2 percent on-year, the first double-digit growth since January 2013, by logging $40.3 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Increase in semiconductors and petrochemicals shipments boosted the exports. Outb

Feb. 1, 2017

Former Finance Minister Kang Bong-kyun, who led the ministry at the heart of the financial crisis in the late 1990s, passed away Tuesday. Kang suffered from pancreatic cancer for three years before he died at the age of 74.  Kang led the finance ministry for two years after the nation asked the International Monetary Fund to borrow $58 billion in a bailout package in late 1997. He led the reform of conglomerates and financial institutes alike. After heading the ministry under the Kim Dae

Feb. 1, 2017

When it comes to bequeathing a fortune, South Korea’s superrich prefer stocks over real estate or cash, according to the country’s tax agency on Tuesday. The superrich who transferred at least 5 billion won ($4.3 million) in assets between 2011 and 2015 made combined taxable transfers of assets worth 8.3 trillion won to their children or spouses, the National Tax Service said. The most preferred form of their wealth transfer was in stocks, followed by cash and real estate. Nearly

Jan. 31, 2017

The shipbuilding industry is forecast to lose 27,000 jobs in the first half of this year from a year ago while other major industries are likely to maintain the number of jobs, a report showed on Tuesday. Construction, automobile, machinary, electronics, semiconductor and finance service and insurance industries, on the other hand, are expected to add a combined 38,000 jobs from a year ago, the joint report by the Korea Employment Information Service and the Korea Institute for Advancement of

Industry Jan. 31, 2017