Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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Speaker floats dual citizenship as solution to falling births
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Korean investors close in on US student housing acquisition
South Korean investors are inching closer to taking over a student housing facility in the United States from US real estate developer Lincoln Ventures for roughly 140 billion won ($119.37 million), local brokerage arm Korea Investment & Securities said Wednesday. The 18-story building, Moontower, has four underground levels and houses 166 units with 567 beds. The high-end student residential facility will serve the University of Texas at Austin starting in the fall 2020 semester. Its 19,0
Sept. 16, 2020
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Carousell snaps up $80m from Naver-led investors
Singapore-based online marketplace platform Carousell said Wednesday it had raised a combined $80 million funding from an investor group led by South Korean internet giant Naver. Along with Naver, other Korean investors, including Mirae Asset-Naver Growth Fund and NH Investment & Securities, took part in the consortium. Credit Suisse advised the deal. The funding enabled Carousell to exceed a $900 million valuation, according to the startup. Since launching in 2012, Carousell has been
Sept. 16, 2020
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Seoul stocks snap 4-day winning streak on profit-taking
South Korean stocks ended their four-session winning streak on Wednesday, as investors rushed to reap profits from the recent stock rally. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 7.66 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 2,435.92. Trading volume was moderate at about 755 million shares worth some 11.6 trillion won ($9.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 543 to 308.' Institutions dumped a net 328 b
Sept. 16, 2020
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Kakao Bank’s pre-IPO market value soars to 46 trillion won
Amid heated competition over public subscriptions in Korea’s initial public offering market, the local top internet-only bank’s valuation on the pre-IPO market has soared, exceeding the combined market cap of the four major financial groups here. According to over-the-counter trading platform U-stockplus on Wednesday, shares of Kakao Bank were trading over the counter at 126,000 won ($107) a day earlier, for a market value of 46.22 trillion won. The figure was far higher than the
Sept. 16, 2020
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Global Komsco Daewoo boosts S. Korea’s minting prowess
Global Komsco Daewoo, a Korean cotton pulp maker in Uzbekistan owned by the state-run Korea Minting Security Printing and ID Card Corp., has become a major supplier of raw materials for banknotes to minting agencies in more than 10 advanced economies, the company said Wednesday. Cotton pulp is widely used in making bills, checks, gift vouchers, and secured bank papers. It also serves as a main material for synthetic chemistry products and new material textiles. Marking its 10th anniversary t
Sept. 16, 2020
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Seoul stocks open tad lower on profit-taking
South Korean stocks opened a tad lower Wednesday as investors attempted to cash in recent gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 3.55 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,440.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The index came to a muted start after a 0.65 percent gain in the previous session hitting an over two-year high. In Seoul, most large caps traded lower. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.49 percent, with No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shedding 1.59 percent. In
Sept. 16, 2020
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Seoul stocks up for 4th day to over 2-year high on tech gains, vaccine hopes
South Korean shares extended their winning streak to a fourth session on Tuesday to close at a more than two-year high, helped by advances in tech heavyweights and progress in coronavirus vaccine development. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 15.67 points, or 0.65 percent, to close at 2,443.58. Tuesday's closing marks the highest since June 12, 2018, when the index closed at 2,468.83 points. Trading volume was moderate at
Sept. 15, 2020
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PAG exits from only Korean portfolio company at discount
Hong Kong-based private equity investor PAG Asia Capital exited from Korean toy maker Young Toys by selling its entire stake for some 150 billion won ($127 million) to an investor consortium led by local book publisher MiraeN. The transaction was closed earlier last week, according to deal adviser BDA Partners, after the proposed buyer and seller inked a sales and purchase agreement for 100 percent stake in Young Toys in August. MiraeN declined to comment on deal terms. “We’re pro
Sept. 15, 2020
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S. Korea's brokerages put limits on credit offering amid surging loan balance
Amid the snowballing volume of personal credit loans taken out for stock investments, Korea’s securities firms are increasingly suspending their credit financing services, local industry sources said Tuesday. Samsung Securities, the brokerage arm of the Samsung conglomerate, announced a day earlier that it would temporarily stop the purchase of credit loans as the firm had reached its limit on credit offerings. This marked the second time since July 22 that Samsung put the brakes on its
Sept. 15, 2020
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Complaints against financial firms surge 15% amid pandemic
The number of consumer complaints brought against local financial companies jumped 15 percent on-year in the first-half of 2020, mainly related to the mis-selling of private equity funds and a surge in requests for loans to counter the coronavirus impact, data showed Tuesday. According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, the financial watchdog received a total of 45,922 consumer complaints against securities firms, commercial banks, insurance companies and credit card operat
Sept. 15, 2020
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Seoul stocks open tad higher on brisk M&As, vaccine hopes
South Korean shares open slightly higher Tuesday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains that stemmed from brisk M&A deals and progress in coronavirus vaccine development. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 2.73 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,430.64 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment was boosted by progress made in large acquisition deals by large firms for tech and bio blue chips, including the video-sharing app TikTok and drugmaker Immunomedics
Sept. 15, 2020
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Seoul stocks rally on tech gains, eased virus curbs
South Korean shares jumped more than 1 percent Monday on the back of advances in tech shares and eased social distancing measures against the new coronavirus in the country. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 31.22 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 2,427.91. Trading volume was moderate at about 953 million shares worth some 11.9 trillion won ($10.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 645 to 218. Foreigners bought a
Sept. 14, 2020
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Investor deposits for IPO subscriptions in S. Korea exceed W150tr
South Korean investors have poured over 150 trillion won ($126.71 billion) into initial public offerings this year, 1.5 times more than last year, reflecting investors’ thirst for profit at a time of ultralow interest rates and high liquidity in the market, industry sources said Monday. Investor deposits for IPO subscription in the local market came to 150.9 trillion won from January to Thursday. In contrast, the figure for the whole of last year stood at 99.4 trillion won. Despite the
Sept. 14, 2020
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[Contribution] What happens when the US Dollar weakens?
The Korea Herald is running a regular contribution series written by senior investment strategists at Standard Chartered Group Wealth Management. -- Ed. The US dollar has started to decline in value over the past few months, with the benchmark US dollar Index down about 9 percent since its March 2020 peak. This naturally raises questions on whether this US dollar weakness can extend, and whether this has broader implications for investors. We are of the view that there is room for the doll
Sept. 14, 2020
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Card issuers fined for leaking customer data
Korea’s three leading credit card companies -- Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and NongHyup Card -- have been slapped with fines for mishandling customer data. The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed a lower court’s verdict to fine the three card issuers between 10 million won ($8,450) and 15 million won for violating the Personal Information Protection Act. The companies were accused of mishandling customer data as they had let subcontractors freely gain access to customers’ infor
Sept. 14, 2020
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Seoul stocks open higher on tech gains, eased virus curbs
South Korean shares opened higher Monday, buoyed by tech gains and eased social distancing measures. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 17.38 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,414.07 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The index rose above the 2,400-point mark as chipmakers continued to gain despite lingering valuation pressure on tech heavyweights in major economies. Investor sentiment also improved as the South Korean government eased the social distancing level to Level 2 in
Sept. 14, 2020
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Analysts cast doubt on Shinhan‘s motive behind PE-backed capital increase
Shinhan Financial Group’s plan to increase capital, list new common shares and invite foreign private equity firms as new shareholders in October has left local market watchers with doubts about the motivation behind the move. Last week, the nation‘s No. 1 banking group by total assets said the fundraising is aimed at a securing long-term capital buffer amid COVID-19 uncertainties and a new growth driver in its global business. Questions still linger, according to analysts here, a
Sept. 13, 2020
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PEI to hold PERE Seoul event virtually
Financial intelligence firm PEI said Sunday it plans to host its PERE Investor Forum: Seoul Virtual Experience 2020 on Tuesday. The virtual event is designed to connect South Korean investors with global fund managers and investment advisers to get a glimpse of the future capital flows in the real estate investment scene in and out of Korea through virtual sessions. Sharing the persepctives of Korean institutional investors will be representatives of the Public Officials Benefit Association,
Sept. 13, 2020
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S. Korea ranks 9th in investment attractiveness
South Korea made a top 10 list of attractive investment destinations around the world, but remained at the bottom among comparable Asian nations, according to a report Sunday. The report recently published by European think tank The European House Ambrosetti showed Korea scored 80.06 in the global attractiveness index, ninth highest among 144 nations. The GAI is decided by gauging a nation’s capability to attract foreign investment and its investment environment. In 2016, when such
Sept. 13, 2020
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Cushman & Wakefield wins real estate adviser award
Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield won the top commercial real estate adviser and consultant spot by Euromoney’s 2020 Real Estate Survey for the third consecutive year, the company said Sunday. Euromoney Real Estate Survey’s country result also showed that Cushman & Wakefield’s Korean unit won the award here, along with other 15 countries including the United States, Japan and China. “The success of winning the Euromoney Real Estate Awards in
Sept. 13, 2020