South Korean shares opened higher Wednesday as a bitter verbal war between the United States and North Korea seems to have eased. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 19.03 points, or 0.82 percent, to 2,353.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 2.8 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.35 percent...

South Korea's credit default risk has hit an 18-month high amid saber-rattling between the United States and North Korea over the latter's weapons program, data showed Wednesday. The credit default swap (CDS) premium for South Korean foreign exchange stabilization bonds with a five-year maturity reached 70 basis points as of Monday, the highest level since 71 basis points on Feb. 25, 2016, accor...

Offshore investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for the eighth consecutive month in July, with their stock holdings exceeding 600 trillion won ($526.4 billion) for the first time, official data showed Wednesday. Foreign investors boosted their holdings of local stocks by a net 579 billion won in July to 605.7 trillion won, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service....

Although the proportion has continued to decline, 1 in 5 of those employed in South Korea work at least 54 hours a week, data from Statistics Korea showed. Average weekly working hours have been falling since the introduction of the five-day workweek in 2004, but the decline rate has become stagnant since the system was fully adopted in 2010.

Households in South Korea have still appeared to flock to mortgage loans so far this month, despite the government’s strong measures on Aug. 2 to tighten mortgage borrowing, data showed Tuesday. The average volume of household mortgage borrowings per day reached 407.1 billion won ($356.6 million) from 3,167.6 cases during Aug. 7-11, according to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service...

South Korea's government said Tuesday that it will provide 100 billion won ($87.6 million) in special credit guarantees to young entrepreneurs that are setting up new companies and hiring workers. The plan made possible by the passage of the extra budget through parliament last month, is being pushed forward by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and aims to create good jobs by launching competit...

South Korea's trade surplus remained in the black for the 66th month in a row in July amid brisk outbound shipments, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's trade surplus came to $10.3 billion last month, slightly down from a surplus of $10.7 billion tallied a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Asia's fourth-largest economy has posted a monthly trade surplus...

South Korean stocks are expected to experience some corrections over the next couple of months due to the geopolitical risks coming from North Korea and the recent bull market, local observers said Tuesday. The prediction follows the war of words between Washington and Pyongyang over the latest UN sanctions and threats by the North to fire off missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam. ...

A recent string of economic indicators point to the weakening recovery of the Korean economy, casting doubts over the government’s expectation that this year’s growth rate will reach 3 percent. In its monthly economic assessment report released last week, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said the recovery pace “was not solid,” as an upturn in exports and facility investment was offset by wea...

South Korea’s stock market indexes swung back to positive territory Monday, recovering from a bearish trend last week fueled by the United States’ verbal saber-rattling at North Korea in response to its plans to attack US territory with ballistic missiles. The top-tier Kospi closed at 2,334.22, up 0.63 percent from Friday’s close, while the tech-heavy Kosdaq rose 0.16 percent. Foreign investor...

Foreigners who had been steadily investing in Asian stock markets began to pull out in July, with South Korean stocks ranking as the second most sold, data showed Monday. This year's figures provided by the Korea Exchange said foreigners net purchased between $2.8 billion and $11.9 billion per month in Asian shares from January to June. China and Japan were excluded from the count because they d...

South Korea's top economic official on Monday called for vigilance against potential volatility in the local financial market over heightened tensions between North Korea and the United States. "The impact of (North Korean threats) on the financial and foreign exchange market is now expanding to the global level. A small shock will highly likely intensify market volatility," Finance Minister Ki...

South Korean shares traded higher late Monday morning as local institutional investors snatched up market heavyweights amid signs of abating tension between North Korea and the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 11.72 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,331.43 as of 11:20 a.m. Large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.85 percent, and g...

Loans extended by savings banks, insurers and other nonbanking institutions hit a record high in the first six months of the year, South Korea's central bank said Monday. The data compiled by the Bank of Korea showed that outstanding loans extended by nonbanking financial companies reached 763.6 trillion won ($671 billion) as of end-June, the highest since 1993 when the central bank began to com...

South Korean shares opened higher Monday as some investors returned to the market amid escalating geopolitical tension between the United States and North Korea. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.54 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,332.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics gaining 1.43 percent. Top automak...