South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday, led by tech and financial shares, as investors awaited earnings results from U.S. AI chip giant Nvidia. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 8.1 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,480.05 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Nasdaq composite rose more than 1 percent on a 4.9 percent jump in Nvidia as the chipmaker is set to release its quarterly results on Wednesday (U.S. time). In Seoul, tech and bank shares led the

Shares of local banks are putting up a fight in the bearish Korean stock market, as investors are pricing in expectations that lenders could excel in the second Donald Trump administration under softened regulation and higher interest rates. The KRX Banks index, representing shares of top financial service providers such as KB, Shinhan, Woori and Hana, closed at 913.69 on Nov. 7, up 2.33 percent on-day, after Trump secured his victory in the US presidential election. It was the highest-gaining i

South Korean stocks started lower Wednesday due to losses from large-cap shares in tech and auto firms. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 15.27 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,602.53 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, Wall Street finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8 percent to a record high on better-than-expected earnings from Alphabet, the parent company of Google. In Seoul, most market heavyweights

Shinhan Financial Group, one of the country's top financial providers, posted lower-than-expected earnings for the July-September quarter, hit by the derivative fiasco from its brokerage arm. The financial group announced Friday that its net profit for the third quarter recorded 1.23 trillion won ($885 million), marking a 3.9 percent increase year-on-year. The figure, however, is slightly lower than the market forecast of around 1.3 trillion won. It also lost 186.9 billion won or 13.1 perce

KB Financial Group reported record third-quarter profits driven by increased interest revenues from expanded loans while announcing a plan to enhance shareholder returns linked to its financial stability. The group posted a net profit of 1.61 trillion won ($1.17 billion), a 17.5 percent on-year increase, marking its best performance for the third quarter to date. Cumulatively, the year-to-date net profit reached 4.4 trillion won, up 0.4 percent from the previous year. However, compared to the

Shinhan Financial Group announced Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Bank of Communications to enable its SOL Travel Card users to make payments using QR codes in China. The Bank of Communications, one of China’s five state-owned commercial banks, ranked ninth in The Banker’s 2023 Top 1000 World Banks. Its Seoul branch serves as the only designated renminbi clearing bank in Korea, managing settlements in yuan on behalf of other institutions. As par

South Korean stocks ended lower Wednesday due to losses in tech shares amid concerns over their earnings. The local currency lost ground against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 23.09 points, or 0.88 percent, to close at 2,610.36, ending the two-session winning streak. Trading volume was moderate at 429.5 million shares worth 9.8 trillion won ($7.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 551 to 323. Foreign investors led the daily drop, dumping a net 664.3 b

South Korean stocks started sharply lower, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 29.41 points, or 1.12 percent, to 2,604.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks closed sharply lower due to poorer-than-expected earnings outlooks of chip equipment-maker ASML Holdings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.75 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.01 percent. In Seoul, most shares opened weaker across the

Korea's first internet-only bank, K bank, is preparing for its upcoming initial public offering, with demand forecasting kicking off Thursday. According to its securities registration filing, K bank started a weeklong demand forecast from institutional investors on Thursday. This process allows investors to submit their desired purchase quantities and prices before the public offering, guiding the company in determining the final offering price. K bank's target price range is set betwe

Five-year, multi-billion-dollar strategic partnership to drive AI transformation for more than 650 thousand businesses and 17 million consumers across Korea  Korea-customized AI model collaboration, including OpenAI's GPT-4o through Azure OpenAI Service, to enable emerging AI use cases for different industry verticals    KT and Microsoft collaborate on Korean sovereign cloud solution development and market launch to drive cloud and AI innovation for the public sect

Samsung Electronics and the nation’s top five lenders have collaborated to create a 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) fund to support small and medium-sized companies struggling to meet toughening carbon regulations at home and in overseas markets. On Tuesday, the tech giant, together with the nation’s top five financial groups and the Financial Supervisory Service, vowed to offer low-interest rates on loans to smaller businesses seeking to invest in low-emissions facilities, equipment o

The Korea Value-up Index, the key component of the government’s push to boost corporate value and address the “Korea Discount,” is to enlist 100 companies, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and Mirae Asset Securities, according to the bourse operator Korea Exchange. On Tuesday, the Korea Exchange released the details on the value-up index, a stock index comprising "best practice" Korean companies complying with the corporate value-up program. The initiative

South Korean stocks fell for the seventh consecutive session Wednesday led by foreign sell-off ahead of US inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve's policy move next week. The Korean won traded higher against the US greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 10.06 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 2,513.37. The main index has been in a bearish mode since Sept. 3. Trading volume was light at 294.1 million shares worth 9.4 trillion won ($7 billion), with

South Korea’s Shinhan Bank said Wednesday that it has embarked on a new business venture to provide digital finance consulting services to global peers, with Japan’s Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group as its first client. “This digital finance consulting contract with Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group holds significance in that Shinhan Bank's digital competitiveness has been recognized on the global stage,” the lender said in a statement. Shinhan’s decision to ent

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong (left) poses with Community Chest of Korea Chairman Kim Byong-joon after signing an agreement to make a joint effort to spread a culture of philanthropy harnessing will-substitute trusts at the charity's headquarters in Seoul Monday. Shinhan will encourage its customers who have signed up for its will-substitute trust program to donate a portion of their wealth to the nonprofit Community Chest of Korea when inheriting assets in the future. (Shinh