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  • Economy

    Korea's ETF market overtakes Kosdaq for 1st time

    The domestic exchange-traded fund (ETF) market overtook the Kosdaq in market capitalization for the first time last week, data showed Sunday, ahead of the Kosdaq's 30th anniversary in July. The ETF market has grown rapidly this year, driven by increased participation from retail investors and strong interest in artificial intelligence-themed investments, while the Kosdaq has declined amid broad weakness in the index. According to the Korea Exchange, total net assets of domestic ETFs stood at 519.75 trillion won ($337.94 billion) as of Thursday, exceeding the Kosdaq’s market capitalization of 499.3 trillion won. Although Friday’s total net asset figure has yet to be finalized, industry officials estimate that ETF net assets continued to outpace the Kosdaq through Friday. It marked the first time that the domestic ETF market's net assets exceeded the Kosdaq's market capitalization since the first ETF was launched in Korea in December 2002. The two markets first reversed positions on Tuesday. A day later, the Kosdaq briefly moved back ahead, but ETFs regained the lead on Thursday. The g

    2 MIN READBy Lee Yeon-woo
    Korea's ETF market overtakes Kosdaq for 1st time
  • Economy

    Korean won drops against US dollar on fresh concerns of conflict between US, Iran

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Korean won drops against US dollar on fresh concerns of conflict between US, Iran
  • Economy

    Seoul shares down 2% late Monday morning on tech losses, Iran uncertainty

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Seoul shares down 2% late Monday morning on tech losses, Iran uncertainty
  • Economy

    Will Samsung join ADR wave among Asian chipmakers?

    2 MIN READBy Lee Yeon-woo
    Will Samsung join ADR wave among Asian chipmakers?
  • Economy

    Gov't eyes curbs on employee loan programs offered by large firms

    2 MIN READBy Park Han-sol
    Gov't eyes curbs on employee loan programs offered by large firms
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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

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Economy

'Short-selling gains 39 times greater than retail leveraged trading'

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-minThe returns on short-selling were 39 times greater than retail, leveraged trading over the past three years, highlighting the expanded gap in stock gains between individual, retail investors and their large counterparts ― foreign and institutional investors, a study showed Monday.Short-selling refers to the sale of borrowed shares with the expectation of profiting from a price fall when the shares are bought back at a lower price. It's been widely used by foreign and institutional investors seeking leverage to net greater gains.This has intensified the call for the extension of a ban on the trading method, long criticized as an easy way for big players to make money at the expense of individual retail investors who are subject to stricter rules involving lending periods for and interest on borrowed shares.The temporary ban is set to expire March 15, about a year after it was put in place as an emergency measure to create a floor for the then-plummeting stock market at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.The study conducted by a team of researche

Jan 18, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
'Short-selling gains 39 times greater than retail leveraged trading'
Economy

LG Energy Solution IPO could test Citigroup's friendship with SK

Citigroup Center in New York / AP-YonhapMorgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs considered strongest candidatesBy Park Jae-hyukAttention is focusing on whether LG Energy Solution will select Citigroup Global Markets Securities as an underwriter for its planned initial public offering (IPO), despite the U.S. investment bank's close ties with SK Group, which is in fierce rivalry with LG Group in the electric vehicle (EV) battery market.The EV battery manufacturing subsidiary of LG Chem has already decided not to send out requests for proposals (RFPs) to the underwriters for the listing of SK IE Technology (SKIET) ― JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse, Mirae Asset Daewoo and Korea Investment & Securities ― to prevent a conflict of interest, according to sources.SKIET, which makes core components for EV batteries and flexible displays, is a subsidiary of SK Innovation which is engaging in an intensifying legal battle with LG Energy Solution in the United States over patent infringement allegations. When SKIET started procedures to go public last year, some investment banks intentionally stayed out o

Jan 18, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
LG Energy Solution IPO could test Citigroup's friendship with SK
Economy

Foreign residents left out of digital-oriented banking service

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min Foreign residents are being left out of enhanced digital services, indicating Korea's much-touted digitization drive has yet to fully include a demographic which has been increasing in size and relevance in the country over the past few years. “I'm having a hard time understanding why expats should go to a bank in person to open an account, when Koreans can do it through the simple click of a button on a mobile app,” said a woman from overseas in her 20s who declined to be identified. She teaches English at a private cram school here.This is an experience shared by many foreign nationals living in Korea. It occurs due to the lack of a real-time identification verification system, an integrated system among government ministries and agencies put in place for Koreans to help speed up administrative processes that involve financial transactions or the handling of personal data. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) revised a related rule in late 2019 to allow foreigners to open a bank account online using an alien registration card, the Kore

Jan 18, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Foreign residents left out of digital-oriented banking service
Economy

'Tenbagger' stocks show resurgence

GettyimagesbankBy Anna J. Park It has become more frequent these days to see tenbagger stocks ― shares in companies that pay off more than 10 times their initial purchase price ― both on markets here and abroad.More such cases are witnessed on the U.S. stock markets, where daily price ceiling limits do not exist, than in Korea where a daily limit up (down) ― share price increase (decrease) ― of 30 percent is enforced. However, local biopharmaceutical company Vaxcell Bio Therapeutics, a manufacturer of cancer immunotherapy drugs that was listed on the tech-heavy Kosdaq Sept. 22, has seen its stock price skyrocket closing at 202,500 won ($185), Friday. This is nearly a 10-fold jump from the 21,300 won close on the first day of its IPO.The firm's stock was also the No. 1 in returns among newly listed companies on both the KOSPI and Kosdaq markets last year. The company's listing was nothing like the current frenzy for IPOs. Its initial subscription level was set at 30,000 won, but immediately after the listing the price dropped to 27,000 won ― the starting price of an IPO can range betw

Jan 16, 2021By Anna J. Park
'Tenbagger' stocks show resurgence
Economy

Asian shares follow Wall Street lower as traders mull Biden plan

President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 pandemic during an event at The Queen theater, Thursday, Jan. 14, in Wilmington, Del. AP-YohapAsian shares fell Friday after a worse-than-expected U.S. jobs report and a late slide in several Big Tech stocks left major indexes lower on Wall Street. U.S. futures lost ground after President-elect Joe Biden announced his plans to propose a $1.9 billion package to help along a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Biden spoke about the plan after Thursday's market close. Biden's coronavirus plan would include $1,400 checks for individuals, on top of $600 provided in the last COVID-19 bill. The plan would also extend a temporary boost in unemployment benefits and a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures through September. It also provides funds for a mass vaccination campaign and a major expansion of local public health efforts. Markets have been mostly charging higher recently amid growing optimism that the rollout of coronavirus vaccines will set the stage for a big rebound for the economy and corporate profits later this year. Exp

Jan 15, 2021
Asian shares follow Wall Street lower as traders mull Biden plan
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Economy

Fast debt pile-up feared to threaten Korean households

gettyimagesbank'Rapid increase in household debt may trigger gov't fiscal crisis' By Lee Kyung-min Concerns are mounting that the rapid increase in household debt could escalate into a financial crisis, as a sudden fall in the values of homes and stocks could put many overleveraged borrowers into default, experts warned Sunday. They said the Korean economy could fall into a vicious cycle whereby the financial status of lenders becomes compromised and worsens rapidly due to reduced fiscal headroom brought on by fast-growing government debt amid the COVID-19 pandemic.If debtors are unable to repay their loans following a sharp drop in the value of assets ― notably homes ― commercial banks will see their financial health deteriorate precipitously, prompting the government to intervene to prevent a chain reaction of defaults at financial institutions.However, a large number of defaults following steeper-than-expected asset price falls could overwhelm the government's fiscal tools, limiting the effectiveness of its crisis management capabilities and the economy will suffer as a resul

Jan 15, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Fast debt pile-up feared to threaten Korean households
Economy

Bank of Korea warns against steep rise in leveraged lending

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol speaks during an online press conference at its headquarters in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Bank of KoreaBy Lee Min-hyungThe Bank of Korea (BOK) warned Friday against a steep rise in leveraged household lending for stock investments.BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol urged investors to refrain from jumping into the nationwide stock investment boom by taking out excessive loans, as the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has reached a record high “in a very short period of time.”“Investors may have to endure an intolerable level of loss when a (stock) price is adjusted at a time when the stock market index has recently been on the rapid rise,” Lee told reporters in an online press conference.“When the index grows too fast, there stands an ample chance that the stock price can be readjusted due to external unpredictability ― such as any changes in major economies' monetary policies, geopolitical risk factors and possible supply disruptions of COVID-19 vaccines,” Lee said.According to data from the central bank, the balan

Jan 15, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Bank of Korea warns against steep rise in leveraged lending
Economy

Mirae Asset founder shares long-term investment insights on YouTube

Mirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo appears on Mirae Asset's YouTube channel on Thursday. / Courtesy of Mirae Asset DaewooEV, cloud computing, semiconductor, green energy, bio, game sectors recommended By Anna J. ParkMirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo, who is also global investment strategy officer (GISO) of the group's brokerage arm Mirae Asset Daewoo, made a rare appearance on YouTube on Thursday, sharing his investment philosophies as he discussed long-term investment strategies with the firm's stock analysts. In the two videos released on YouTube Thursday and Friday, the financial mogul and the analysts talked about key sectors that are expected to log substantial growth in the near future, namely electronic vehicles (EV) and EV batteries, semiconductors and cloud computing. The green energy, e-commerce, game and bio sectors are also recommended for retail investors' attention for their further growth potential.In the video, the financial giant's founder stressed that he's always interested in so-called “disruptive innovation” in investm

Jan 15, 2021By Anna J. Park
Mirae Asset founder shares long-term investment insights on YouTube
Economy

Bank of Korea keeps key rate at record low as pandemic persists

Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol wearing a mask raps his gavel at a meeting in its Seoul building, Friday. YonhapKorea's central bank on Friday held its policy rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent, as the fallout from a third wave of the new coronavirus hurt the scope of maintaining an economic recovery. As widely expected, the monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to leave the base rate steady in this year's first rate-setting meeting.In November last year, the BOK froze the key rate as economic uncertainty heightened amid a flare-up in new coronavirus cases. To bolster the pandemic-hit economy, the BOK slashed the key rate to an all-time low of 0.5 percent in May last year after delivering an emergency rate cut of half a percentage point. Analysts said economic uncertainty has increased as daily new virus cases have recently hovered around 1,000, although health authorities said the third wave appeared to have slowed down.Despite signs of recovery in exports, weaker consumer spending has weighed on employment and built pressure on policymakers. For December

Jan 15, 2021
Bank of Korea keeps key rate at record low as pandemic persists
Economy

Gov't seeks redevelopment projects to supply more public houses in Seoul

Apartment buildings in Seoul / YonhapSouth Korea will put priority on increasing housing supply by lowering construction regulations in the densely populated urban area and supporting redevelopment projects to stabilize the housing market, the finance minister said Friday.Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said housing stability is one of the government's most pressing tasks, vowing to make use of all available policy measures to rein in the heated market."The government will put priority on supplying new housing units this year," Hong said at a pan-governmental meeting on the real estate market. His remark signals the real estate policy shift from curbing demand with tighter lending, higher tax and construction rules to increasing supply of more affordable houses. To speed up new projects, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport selected eight areas in Seoul for pilot redevelopment projects pushed with public developers, including the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. and Seoul Housing Communities Corp.While redevelopment projects often get delayed due to layers of regulat

Jan 15, 2021
Gov't seeks redevelopment projects to supply more public houses in Seoul
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