Seoul stocks open lower on 1st day of resumed short selling

South Korea's key stock index opened lower Monday after a four-session losing streak, as investors took to the sidelines on the first day of partially resumed short selling. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 5.07 points, or 0.16 percent, to 3,142.79 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Beginning Monday, the country's financial authorities lifted short selling ban on 200 market heavyweights on the main bourse and 150 companies on the tech-laden Kosdaq market. I

May 3, 2021

Industrial output index hits record high in Q1 amid economic recovery

South Korea's industrial output index hit a record high in the first quarter as Asia's fourth-largest economy is recovering from pandemic-driven slumps, supported by robust exports, data showed Monday. The index gauging industrial production came to 111.2 in the January-March period, up 1.7 percent from 109.3 three months earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The reading marked the highest since the first quarter of 2000, when the statistics agency began compiling related data.

May 3, 2021

LG Electronics H&A unit drawing keen attention after record Q1 earnings

Keen market attention is now focused on the future performance of LG Electronics Inc.'s home appliance and air solution (H&A) unit following its record earnings in the first quarter of the year, analysts said Monday. LG Electronics said Thursday the operating profit of its H&A division came to an all-time high of 919.9 billion won ($824 million) for the January-March period, up 22.1 percent from a year earlier. Sales of the electronics giant's flagship unit also soared 23.8 percent on-y

May 3, 2021

[News Focus] Storied succession comes to end at Samsung

Samsung’s ownership family on Friday announced how the late group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s Samsung stocks would be distributed among its members. Many local analysts saw it as the finale in a long, storied process of passing down control over the colossal corporate empire to the third-generation leader, Lee Jae-yong. The junior Lee, the deceased’s only son who had run the group on behalf of his bedridden father since 2014, inherited half of his holdings in Samsung Life Insuranc

May 2, 2021

LG Chem goes on hiring spree for advanced materials foray

LG Chem is set to fill hundreds of positions in its advanced materials division as it prepares for an aggressive expansion into new business areas and markets, the company said Sunday. The company’s upcoming hiring period will be its most active since the division was established in 2019, it added. According to LG Chem, the company is seeking talent in all the business segments where it operates, from battery materials to postconsumer recycled plastics, organic light-emitting diodes a

May 2, 2021

LG U+ to launch 5G-based solutions for local seaports

LG U+ has set up a crane remote control system at Busan Port and aims to commercialize 5G network-based solutions for automated seaport infrastructure management, the company said Sunday. The yard cranes at Busan Port are controlled remotely by an operator in an office, using the control system developed by the South Korean telecommunications firm. The tall cranes, equipped with sensors and high-definition cameras, are designed to send live feeds to a control room via the 5G network. The so

May 2, 2021

FTC to review Samsung self-dealing in cafeterias

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog will meet to weigh the penalties to impose on Samsung Group later this month over accusations that it has unfairly favored one of its subsidiaries for in-house cafeteria businesses. The Fair Trade Commission will hold a two-day meeting sometime around May 26 and hear opinions from major Samsung subsidiaries before finalizing the level of punishment, according to industry sources. Though the meeting often takes a day with all nine members present including

May 2, 2021

Korean shipbuilders account for over 70% of LPG carrier orders

South Korean shipbuilders are leading the race for liquefied petroleum gas carriers as they have secured over 70 percent of shipbuilding orders this year so far, new data has revealed. According to shipping and offshore data researcher Clarksons Research on Sunday, a total of 44 LPG-fueled vessels totaling 1.06 million compensated gross tons have been ordered worldwide this year as of late last month. Among those, South Korean shipbuilders bagged orders that amount to 31 LPG tankers, or nearly

May 2, 2021

Limited impact expected from ease of short selling restriction on stocks

Analysts expected a partial lifting of South Korea’s ban on short selling of large-cap stocks on the Kospi 200 and Kosdaq 150 indexes on Monday will have a limited impact on the market. The country is set to ease bans on the indexes about 14 months after it imposed the restriction to protect investors from a sudden market fall triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Brushing aside retail investors’ concerns over a possible drop in stock prices, market watchers the equity market is un

May 2, 2021

Woori to launch comprehensive mobile payment solution

South Korea’s Woori Financial Group said Sunday it has decided to launch a comprehensive mobile payment solution platform to establish ground in the digital payment market, currently dominated by fintech firms. The solution will integrate and offer the payment services for all of the group’s subsidiaries and affiliates, including Woori Bank and Woori Card. Through the platform, the group is seeking to reach beyond its existing customers. It will grant access to users with no Woor

May 2, 2021

NH NongHyup wins license to operate branch in Hong Kong

NH NongHyup Bank, one of South Korea’s five major banks, said Sunday that it has been granted a license to operate a branch in Hong Kong, taking a solid step towards global expansion. With the green light given by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday, the lender will make a foray into Asia’s largest financial hub. NH NongHyup plans to launch its Hong Kong branch by the end of the year, after selecting the location of its headquarters, according to the firm. “Hong Ko

May 2, 2021

[Top Investors] Park Hyun-joo, Korea’s Warren Buffett -- what’s his next move?

This is the first installment of a series of interviews with South Korea’s leading investors and strategists, and analyses of their insights on markets and future investment. -- Ed. Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo and his empire, one of South Korea’s largest asset management firms, were on a roller coaster ride last year as the group backed out of large acquisition deals and fought a series of lawsuits. Just six months before the pandemic hit the global market,

May 2, 2021

HMM deploys one new ship to US to cope with soaring freight rates

South Korea's leading shipper, HMM Co., said Sunday it has deployed one additional ship to the United States to cope with soaring freight costs amid the new coronavirus pandemic. HMM said a 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) ship carrying local companies' containers departed from the southeastern port city of Busan earlier in the day and is expected to arrive at a port in Los Angeles on May 13. HMM has operated 21 temporary ships since August, with 15 covering US routes, to handle a shar

May 2, 2021

Local craft beers gain popularity in S. Korea

South Korea's homegrown craft beer has increasingly gained popularity over recent years, industry data showed Sunday, as local brewers offer a wide range of flavors at competitive prices. The local craft beer market was valued at 118 billion won ($105.6 million) as of 2020, sharply up from 43.3 billion won in 2017, according to data by the Korea Craft Brewers' Association. Jeju Beer Company, based on the southern resort island of Jeju, was the nation's leading craft brewer, booking 33.5 billi

May 2, 2021

Retail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Elec surpasses 10%

Retail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's most valuable company, surpassed 10 percent for the first time as they went bargain hunting for its shares amid the COVID-19 pandemic last year, industry data showed Sunday. Individual investors owned a total of 65.3 million common shares of Samsung Electronics as of Friday, accounting for 10.1 percent of the total, according to industry data. The world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor is valued at 486.5 tr

May 2, 2021

S. Korea to partially lift ban on short selling after 14 months

South Korea's financial regulator is set to partially lift its ban on short selling of listed stocks this week, about 14 months after it imposed it to cope with a stock market rout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting Monday, the ban on 200 large-cap firms listed on the main KOSPI and 150 firms listed on the secondary KOSDAQ will be lifted, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said. A total of 917 stocks are listed on the KOSPI, and 1,470 stocks are listed on the KOSDAQ. A ban o

May 2, 2021

LG Group launches new holding firm LX Holdings

South Korean conglomerate LG Group has launched its new holding firm with about 8 trillion won ($7.1 billion) of assets as part of its restructuring plan, company officials said Sunday. The new holding firm named LX Holdings has five LG affiliates under its wing -- LG International Corp., LG Hausys Ltd., LG MMA Corp., Silicon Works Co. and Pantos Co. In November, LG Group decided to hive off some affiliates for Koo Bon-joon, an uncle of current LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and a younger brot

May 2, 2021

LG Uplus on lookout for automated seaports with 5G tech

BUSAN -- A towering shipyard crane nimbly moves over stacks of cargo crates at a terminal in Busan Port, South Korea's largest seaport 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to snatch a container box and gently load it onto a truck. While the scene is business as usual for the bustling port that processed over 410 million tons of cargo last year, the crane is unusual in that its driver's seat -- 25 meters off the ground -- is empty. The over 20-year-old industrial machine runs in semi-autonomous m

May 2, 2021

Exports up for 6th month on upbeat shipments of chips, cars

South Korea's exports jumped 41.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the highest growth in around 10 years, as demand for chips and automobiles stayed strong amid the improving global economy, data showed Saturday. Outbound shipments came to $51.1 billion last month, compared with $36.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It marked the sharpest on-year monthly growth since January 2011. Imports rose 33.9 percent to $50.8 bil

May 1, 2021

[Weekender] The rise of curated fashion platforms

Having a lot of tabs open while browsing for clothes online? For a growing number of shoppers, those days are over. Similar to how going to a shopping mall with a wide range of brands seems more of a safe bet than having to travel between stores far apart from each other, more people in South Korea are turning to platforms like Musinsa and Zigzag -- algorithm-driven e-commerce fashion platforms where shoppers are presented with items from thousands of brands. Musinsa, which boasts some 6,000

May 1, 2021