Leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea recently concluded their senior-level “Doorknock” meetings in Washington, during which the delegation met with key officials of the Trump Administration, Congress and policy think tanks to discuss issues regarding Korea-US relations, according to a press release from AmCham on Sunday. During their visit last week, AmCham officials held more th...

South Korea's central bank is expected to hold its key rates steady this month due to weak domestic spending, a report by Moody's Analytics said Sunday. The Bank of Korea kept its policy rate at an all-time low of 1.25 percent for the 10th consecutive month in April to bolster Asia's fourth-biggest economy. The leading provider of economic analysis, said the BOK will "likely stand pat" on rates...

Developing external uncertainties will heighten sensitivity of the main bourse of South Korea, according to market experts Friday. The first-tier market has been riding on momentum for nearly a month backed by first-quarter earnings surprises of local listed firms and President Moon Jae-in‘s highly-anticipated move to improve corporate structure and induce institutional investors to adopt a stew...

The Korea Exchange will launch a new web portal in June to provide information on short-selling in the local stock market and facilitate individual investors’ access, the market operator said Thursday. The beta version of the website will kick off Monday, through which the KRX is expected to gather feedback from investors until June 16, 10 days ahead of the official launch of the service availab...

South Korean stocks closed nearly flat on Friday as investors remained cautious amid no fresh leads following a recent rally led by robust corporate earnings, analysts said. The local currency edged down against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 1.66 points, or 0.07 percent to close at 2,288.48. Trading volume was moderate at 415.2 million shares worth 5.78 tr...

The government's dividend income from its stakes in public companies rose sharply this year on improved earnings of state-funded companies, the finance ministry said Friday. Public companies' dividend payments to the government totaled 1.56 trillion won ($1.38 billion) in 2017, up 27.4 percent from 1.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The ministry ...

The Bank of Korea has completed moving more than 10 trillion won ($8.88 billion) of cash -- previously stashed in an underground vault -- to its Gangnam office, bank officials said Friday. The move comes as the central bank will be starting its three-year renovation of its headquarters in central Seoul from the second half of the year. This will include reconstruction of the main annex building ...

Under the new Moon Jae-in administration, the Finance Ministry has set up renewed guidelines for next year’s budget prioritizing Moon’s key policies, such as job creation and income growth, the ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it has revised its budget guidelines for 2018, which had been announced on March 31, to reflect the new government’s key policy tasks. “To ...

South Korean stocks trading was nearly unchanged late Friday morning, with tech blue chips losing ground while auto large caps moved upward, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 1.59 points, or 0.07 percent, to hit 2,288.41 as of 11:20 a.m. Tech giant Samsung Electronics fell more than 2 percent, with chipmaker SK hynix shedding over 1 percent. Top automaker Hyu...

Former Finance Minister Kang Man-soo was sentenced to four years in prison Friday on multiple corruption charges. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Kang, also a former head of the state-run Korea Development Bank, of pressuring the government to designate a biotech firm run by his friend as a business partner and provide billions of won in subsidies in December 2009. The court ordered h...

South Korea's new Moon Jae-in government is expected to make only small changes to the current merit pay system for all public agency employees instead of scrapping it all together, analysts said Friday. During a campaign rally for the May 9 presidential election, Moon of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea promised to immediately abolish the performance-based wage system should he be elected ...

South Korean stocks started marginally lower on Friday, as a drop in top-listed firms offset gains in cosmetics and food companies, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 2.04 points, or 0.09 percent, to trade at 2,284.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-cap Samsung Electronics lost almost 1 percent, with No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor sliding 1.6 percent. Bu...

Retailers are struggling with weak sales amid unfavorable market conditions industry data showed Friday, with prospects of new government regulations adding to their worries. According to the sales tally, April's numbers by major department stores shrank nearly 2 percent compared to same month last year. Lotte showed a 1.9-percent contraction while sales at Hyundai fell 1.6 percent. The lone inc...

Conditions are ripe but detailed policies for implementation remain to be seen, experts say

Kim says curbing cross-shareholdings not a priority