Investors from the United Kingdom traded the largest volume of stocks in terms of value on South Korean markets, beating out investors from other countries in May and June, data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed Tuesday. In June, UK buyers engaged in trading stocks worth 25.8 trillion won ($23.1 billion), accounting for 33.1 percent of the entire offshore stock trading on the first-t...

South Korea’s main bourse index on Monday saw a recovery from Friday’s drop of 1.73 percent, the largest in nearly 13 months. The Kospi edged up 0.07 percent from Friday to close at 2,402.71 on Monday. Tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rose 0.92 percent and 2.17 percent, slight recoveries compared to slides of 4.1 percent and 5.56 percent, respectively, Friday. While viewing Friday’s...

South Korea’s stock markets tumbled Friday, with its top-tier Kospi market taking its largest daily loss in a year. The Kospi closed at 2,400.99 on Friday, down 1.73 percent from Thursday. The main bourse index tumbled by the largest margin since July 6, 2016, which saw a 1.85 percent Kospi loss. It also marked the largest drop in 2017, following 1.14 percent slide in March 3. During late afte...

Shares of Celltrion Healthcare rose over 15 percent on the first day of its initial public offering on the second-tier Kosdaq market Friday. Stocks of the sole marketer and supplier of biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion closed at 50,300 won ($44.90), up 22.68 percent from the offering price of 41,000 won. Celltrion Healthcare has been bullish throughout the day since it opened at 6.5 percent high...

Samsung Securities’ model portfolio, which guides global investment distribution of the equity firm‘s funds, has boasted stability, the firm said Thursday. The core-A type of Samsung Securities’ model portfolio saw a cumulative return of 19.68 percent over the last three years as of the end of June. Of the last 12 quarters, the model portfolio saw a positive rate of return in nine quarters, it ...

Kakao Bank officially began operations Thursday at 7 a.m., becoming the second online-only bank to be launched in South Korea, but it was quickly met with complaints due to the server failure of the bank’s mobile app. Within eight hours of the launch, some 230,000 users had downloaded the mobile app, through which some 103,000 new bank accounts were created, according to the bank. It also drew 2...

Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku on Wednesday highlighted local banks’ overdependence on gains from household loans as a hurdle to wage-led growth and said he would lower the maximum interest rate to 24 percent from next year. In his first press conference as the head of the nation’s top financial regulator a week after he took office, Choi pledged to address banks’ overrelian...

SK Holdings announced it would buy 11.77 percent of Chinese logistics firm e-Shang Redwood Group’s newly issued stock, worth some 372 billion won ($333.3 million), in a disclosure Tuesday. The holding company of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate in market capitalization aims to tap into the “explosive growth in e-commerce market” in China through the purchase, the firm said in a release....

South Korea’s composite consumer sentiment index inched up 0.1 point to 111.2 this month from June, indicating a phase of adjustment in anticipation for President Moon Jae-in’s new policies, the Bank of Korea said Tuesday. The CCSI has moved upward six straight months and been in optimistic terrain for four consecutive months, inching closer to the 111.4 recorded in January 2011. However, the in...

SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate in market capitalization on the main bourse, managed to widen its lead over Hyundai Motor Group, which it overtook on April 7, data showed Monday. As of Friday’s closing, firms listed on the top-tier market under SK Group had 120 trillion won ($107.5 billion) in market cap, accounting for 6.62 percent of the market, according to data from the s...

Kyobo Lifeplanet Life Insurance, a South Korean internet-only insurer, is eyeing expansion in the bancassurance market, picking Woori Bank as the third local commercial bank to sell its products Monday. Woori Bank, the fourth-largest commercial bank in Korea, plans to sell two products -- savings insurance and pension-linked products. The products can be purchased at the bank‘s financial produc...

The Westerners lined up on Sunday before giant statues of North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il and, on command from their guide, bowed deeply. It is a ritual that the Trump administration intends to stop US tourists performing, with Washington due to impose a ban this week on its citizens holidaying in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as the No...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced mounting pressure Sunday over new security measures at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site after a weekend of violence left eight people dead, with fears more unrest could follow. Israeli officials signalled they may be open to changing the measures at the Haram al-Sharif mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, after the installation of met...

Ahead of its launch Thursday, Kakao Bank unveiled Sunday its plans to offer commission fees on offshore wire transfers that were just a tenth of the amount charged at offline banks. As the second branchless bank in South Korea following K bank that started operation in April, Kakao Bank said its fees charged from electronic wire services will be better streamlined than conventional commercial ba...

The unprecedented rally in South Korea’s stock market might ease off this week, according to analysts who cited vulnerabilities such as the US Federal Reserve Board’s possible hawkish signs and volatility in the markets and currency exchange rate. Multiple analysts forecast the main bourse index would hover at around the current 2,450 mark, with the lowest at 2,410 and the highest at 2,470. A s...