A majority of Korean businesses believe their earnings will worsen this year due to the local currency’s ascent against the U.S. dollar, a poll showed Wednesday.According to the survey by the Federation of Korean Industries, 55.9 percent of respondents said the local currency will likely trade at a band of 1,000 won to 1,050 won to the greenback this year, up from the 2010 average of 1,156 won.The

Korean stocks finished 1.26 percent lower on Wednesday as foreigners extended their selling amid concerns over Europe’s debt risks, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar.After starting higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slumped 25.89 points to 2,035.87. Trading volume was moderate at 341.8 million shares worth 6.84 trillion won ($6.2 billion), w

Korea should be alert against economic uncertainties at home and abroad, such as the eurozone debt crisis and household debt, as they will serve as downside risks to the growth path, experts said.The Korean economy has maintained its upward momentum, aided by sustained exports, but its growth path is fraught with a set of economic uncertainties, which warrant a close watch, experts said in a month

Korea plans to clamp down on stock market manipulation and trading on undisclosed information after $26 billion was wiped from the value of the nation’s listed companies in a matter of minutes last November.The Financial Services Commission is drafting revisions to capital-markets laws to increase penalties, said Ernst Lee, a spokesman at the regulator. The revisions, which will require approval b

Recent university graduates face the daunting task of figuring out what to do with the rest of their lives. Chile might have an answer for graduates with tech ideas. “Startup Chile is a program that’s aimed to attract innovation and obtain the positive spillover effects of technology ventures,” said Chile Executive Vice President of the Foreign Investment Committee Matias Mori.The idea is to attra

Yoosung labor union’s strike stops some Hyundai, Kia diesel linesThousands of riot police raided the labor strife-marred auto parts’ factory in Asan on Tuesday to end the prolonged illegal strike by unionized members, which is threatening suspension of production in the nation’s automobile industry, witnesses said.About 3,000 riot police were sent to the factory of Yoosung Enterprise Co. about 90k

Korea is moving to quicken a regulatory revision in a bid to launch the first local hedge fund within the year, an official at the financial regulator said.The Financial Services Commission had planned to submit a revision bill to the capital market law to parliament in July or August as part of its efforts to spur the creation of local hedge funds. Instead of rewriting the law, the FSC will seek

Choosing a European country to invest in takes tremendous legwork and lawyers to comb through all the details.Luxembourg has entered the game in Korea by trying to attract foreign investment into the small kingdom.Companies looking toward investing in Europe first need a European headquarters, then a logistical center and in the near future, once fuel prices climb to higher levels, a manufacturing

Korean stocks plunged 2.64 percent on Monday as foreign investors unleashed holdings on falling risk appetite, analysts said. The local currency dipped against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index plunged 55.79 points to 2,055.71. Trading volume was moderate at 289.8 million shares worth 6.24 trillion won ($5.7 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 691 to 146.“F

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, said Friday it has agreed to join Denmark’s efforts to promote clean energy cars in a move to tap the fast growing market for green vehicles in Europe.A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to that end was signed Wednesday in Denmark between the South Korean automaker and the city of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Hyundai Motor officials said.C

BOK freezes key rate at 3 % South Korea's central bank unexpectedly froze the key interest rate on Friday for the second straight month as economic uncertainty such as the eurozone debt crisis persists even in the face of inflation risks.   Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers held steady the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, at 3 percent for May. 

South Korea plans to considerably decelerate the growth in greenhouse gases emitted by the country’s farming sector as part of its broader efforts to help stem global warming, the government said Thursday.The plan also calls for increasing the country’s overall greenhouse gas absorption capabilities by around 6 percent over the next decade, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherie

Korea’s money supply grew at the weakest pace in nearly seven years in March as payments of corporate tax drained money circulation, the central bank said Thursday. The country’s M2, a narrow measure of its money supply, reached 1,677.5 trillion won ($1.55 billion) in March, marking a 4.3 percent increase from the figure posted a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The March reading was

Korean banks’ home-backed loans grew by the largest amount in four months in April as the economic recovery spurred loan demand, the central bank said Thursday.Local banks’ mortgage loans reached an outstanding 292.3 trillion won ($269 billion) as of the end of April, up 2.4 trillion won from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.The April number jumped from a 2.1 trillion won on-mont

NAIROBI (Yonhap News) ― Samsung Electronics Co. aims to post $10 billion in revenue by 2015 in Sub-Saharan Africa with its consumer electronics and mobile products built for the market, the chief of the company’s African unit said Wednesday.Samsung has been stepping up efforts to make inroads into the African market, which has a population of 1 billion with a growing number of middle-class people,

Korea will unveil its road map for the sale of a controlling stake in the second-biggest banking group Woori Finance Holdings Co. next week in a bid to restart its stalled privatization, the financial regulator said Wednesday.The Public Fund Oversight Committee, which handles the sale of state-owned firms, will announce on May 17 how to sell the 56.97 percent government stake in Woori Finance, the

Korea’s central bank is widely expected to resume its tightening move in May by raising the key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in a bid to stem inflationary pressure, a poll showed Wednesday.A total of 14 out of 17 economists forecast that the Bank of Korea will raise the benchmark seven-day repo rate to 3.25 percent on Friday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the finan

S. Korea's jobless rate inches down to 3.7 pct in April   South Korea's jobless rate inched down in April from a year earlier as the private sector continued to expand recruitment, fueled by strong exports, a government report showed Wednesday.   The jobless rate was 3.7 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent in the same month a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. It was

Apartment buildings under construction in Seoul. (Bloomberg)Ahn Ji-eun, 34, lives in a two-bedroom flat in Hwagok-dong in western Seoul with her husband and twin daughters. She moved into the 70-square-meter unit (about 22-pyeong) a year ago as a tenant on a one-year contract and now she is desperate to renew it.“We are told to top up our key money by 30 percent or move out. I’ve been looking for

DETROIT (AP) ― Small cars sold briskly in the U.S. last month, as gasoline prices rose and some buyers worried about shortages of Japanese-made vehicles after the March earthquake there.Analysts expected overall industry sales in the U.S. to increase 19 percent from April of last year.Don Johnson, GM’s vice president of sales and marketing, said consumers shifted into smaller cars starting in Marc