The combined market capitalization of the top 10 conglomerates of South Korea decreased by no less than 55 trillion won in about one month in the wake of COVID-19. Specifically, the market cap of their 100 listed subsidiaries decreased by 6.08 percent to 853.9 trillion won from Jan. 20 to Feb. 25 af

The Financial Services Commission is planning to exclude the concept of concentration risk from its financial group supervision guidelines to be applied to Samsung Group. According to the current law, Samsung Life Insurance must increase its capital in order to retain 3 percent or more of Samsung El

Foreign investors are reducing their shareholdings in the South Korean stock market in the wake of COVID-19.According to Korea Exchange, they posted a net selling of no less than 887 billion won in the KOSPI market on Feb. 26. The daily net selling volume hit an 80-month high that day and their net

South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers are working more and more closely with automakers while working on products with higher energy densities.At present, EV sales are increasing fast in Europe in particular under stricter carbon dioxide emission regulations. Last month, a total o

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at minjae.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Preventative maintenance schedules have been extended for Hanbit #3 & #4. Also of concern, utilization rates at CPPs will likely drop further on reinforced ESG management. But, remaining valid in

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ys.jung@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Last week, we attended Hyundai Glovis’s US NDR. In light of cost competitiveness, we expect the PCC division to see 3PL sales growth, M/S expansion, and profitability improvement in 2020. CKD sales

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed. In 2020, new memory capacity investment is expected to increase sharply, following a dip in 2019. Also positive for the semicon equipment industry are the trends of expanding logic chip sizes (driven

Shinhan AI, a Shinhan Financial Group subsidiary specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), will develop Neo 2.0, an upgrade of its own AI-based investment consulting platform Neo, by teaming up with Element AI, one of the world's best AI solutions companies.Neo was introduced to the market b

The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at yjjung86@shinhan.com. -- Ed. The COVID-19 outbreak is raising concerns over the auto industry. Hyundai Motor Group suspended operations at its production units in China for 10 business days (February 3-16). The disruption of i

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at will.byun@nhqv.com. -- Ed. POSCO Chem has announced the establishment of a JV with OCI for the production of H2O2. In making the H2O2, hydrogen (raw material) will be extracted from COG generated by POSCO’s coke plants. Whi

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. The sharp rise in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Korea last week is likely to prompt a response from the BOK. We expect daily average export growth to turn negative, supporting the case f

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at j.ko@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Affected by the spread of Covid-19, LCD panel prices are rising amidst unfavorable LCD production conditions at Chinese panel manufacturers. We expect LCD panel prices to remain favorable for the time

The Financial Services Commission met with financial group CEOs and released new financial group supervision guidelines on Feb. 24. According to the new guidelines targeting Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Hanwha, Mirae Asset, Kyobo and DB, the commission will look into their shareholdings in non-financial

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 3.87 percent to close at 2,079.04 points on Feb. 24, dipping below 2,100 points for the first time since Dec. 10 last year and showing the steepest daily decline in about 16 months. Likewise, the Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotation Index

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has advised the South Korean government to strengthen its monitoring of financial companies in relation to money laundering prevention and terrorist financing prevention.“The South Korean government is well aware of the risk of money laundering and terrorist fi

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jinmyung.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Hanwha Aerospace’s civil business, in addition to its defense business, also enjoyed earnings growth in 4Q19. However, expectations towards 4Q19 defense/ICT earnings appear to have been excess

The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Kolmar Korea’s 4Q19 results missed expectations. In addition to the Covid-19 crisis, uncertainties linger in the domestic and overseas cosmetics markets -- a situation necessitating a conservative app

The number of overseas branches and offices of South Korean banks reached 1,043 in December last year. A total of 13 banks were running the branches and offices in 42 countries in total.They include 303 located in Indonesia, 203 in Cambodia, 151 in Myanmar, 63 in Vietnam, 40 in the Philippines, 16 i

Foreign securities companies in South Korea are showing a rapid decline in profitability in the absence of localization strategy.For example, Deutsche Securities Korea’s net profit dropped from 1,330.66 million won to negative 7,975.72 million won last year, when its operating loss amounted to 5,872

Market research firm FnGuide analyzed 212 listed companies with target stock prices provided by at least three organizations each and reported on Feb. 23 that the targets for this month are lower than a year ago in 87 whereas only 38 companies’ target stock prices have been adjusted upward.The 87 in