Debt, or credit, for both households and businesses surged to a historic peak, surpassing twice the gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of this year. With an increasing number of businesses relying on non-banking institutions after the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a rising house
Securities firms have been caught engaging in illegal “bond shuffling” practices, transferring bond losses, sometimes amounting to as much as 500 billion won (US$383.44 million), to other clients in an attempt to preserve investment returns for certain institutions and corporations. These activities
Legoland Korea Resort announced the unveiling and lighting ceremony of the country’s first giant Christmas tree made of Lego bricks, standing at 9 meters in height, on Nov. 24.Located in the Brick Street Square of Legoland, the Lego Christmas Tree reaches an impressive height of 9 meters and 83 cent
This year, SK REIT’s share-price decline has been modest compared to the level seen during its rights issuance period last year. With capital to be raised to the degree expected, DPS is projected to rise over the next year. We advise buying at the current low price, believing that the risk of any sh
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.According to their monetary principles, central banks respond to fundamentals with base rate policy and to financial instability with temporary liquidity provision. Expectations for a rate hike or cut
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jk.lim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Overview: Focus on profit-taking for now; buy after rate reversal endsWith KTB yields across all maturities just below the base rate, low interest rates are burdensome given that investors are expecting rate cuts
Foreign investors net-sold 3.22 trillion won of won-denominated bonds in January this year, which is the first net selling in the market since January 2019. Their bond holdings in the market totaled approximately 222 trillion won at the end of last month, decreasing more than 6.5 trillion won in one
The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on Jan. 18 that the 91-day CD rate fell four basis points to 3.7 percent that day, the lowest since Oct. 17 last year. Likewise, the 91-day CP rate fell three basis points to 4.8 percent, the lowest since Nov. 2. In short, the short-term money mar
The domestic corporate bond market in the first week of this year showed institutional subscriptions of no less than 11.8 trillion won for a planned issuance of 970 billion won.Four companies (KT, emart, POSCO and LG U+) conducted the demand forecasting in that period. Institutional subscriptions at
Corporate bond issuance exceeded redemption in two months. Corporate bond yields are stabilizing, and the issuance market is coming back to normal, overcoming the Legoland shock.For the first 10 days of this month, non-ABS corporate bond issuance was 1.3458 trillion won and redemption was 1.087 tril
South Korea’s credit default swap (CDS) premium is stabilizing after the recent surge. Experts, however, point out that it is too early to be optimistic with the KRW-USD exchange rate still fluctuating and South Korea still recording a trade deficit.On Dec. 1, the CDS premium of its five-year Foreig
Lotte Engineering & Construction (Lotte E&C), which is suffering a liquidity crisis, has received 1.1 trillion won in financial support from its sister companies over a period of one month.The construction arm of Lotte Group normally financed its real estate projects through asset-backed commercial
Major financial holding companies’ default risk is continuing to rise despite their record profits. This is because of borrowers’ default risks rising along with the central bank interest rate and market uncertainties triggered by Legoland and Heungkuk Life Insurance. Experts point out that this imp
The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on Nov. 1 that the total bond trading value was 354 trillion won last month, down 77 trillion won from the previous month and down 100 trillion won from a year ago.The trading value fell below 400 trillion won for the first time since January 2009
The Korea Securities Depository announced on Oct. 29 that Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) issued 23.5 trillion won worth of bonds this year, whereas its annual issuance was 10.32 trillion won last year. The state-run power company is financing its deficits by selling corporate bonds. Its cost is
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at moonjoon.chang@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Recommend BUY, TP of KRW30,000 We maintain BUY on GS E&C but lower our TP by 35.5% to KRW30,000 (0.48x 12m fwd P/B) to accommodate a rise in COE (10.4%→11.2%) and a decline in ROE (8.6%→7.3%) following ea
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at moonjoon.chang@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY but cut target price to KRW45,000 We maintain BUY on Hyundai E&C but cut our TP by 18.2% to KRW45,000 (0.62x 12m fwd P/B) to reflect an increase in COE (9.1%→10.0%) and decline in ROE (7.8%→7
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Central banks face a dilemma between restoring trust in their professionalism (inflation control
KT has built a virtual reality (VR) theme park in Malaysia in cooperation with a local company.KT said on Aug. 29 that it opened VR theme park VRINITY at Legoland Shopping Mall in Johor, Malaysia, on Aug. 28 (local time). IISB, a local ICT company, also invested in the project.KT opened the Shinchon
Merlin Entertainments, a British company specializing in location-based entertainment, announced on Jan. 7 (local time) that it has entered into a partnership agreement with the Gangwon Provincial Government to build a LEGOLAND Park in South Korea, scheduled to open by 2022.LEGOLAND Korea will be si