The spread of COVID-19 is affecting South Korean financial companies’ global business by limiting personnel movements. For example, Shinhan Financial Group indefinitely postponed business trips to Europe with regard to its startup accelerator program Shinhan Future’s Lab.Until recently, the CEOs of
Hot money in the South Korean stock market totaled an all-time high of 124,090.6 billion won at the end of last month with a month-on-month increase of 8,766.3 billion won. This has to do with the supplementary budget the South Korean government recently prepared and expectations that the Bank of Ko
Market research firm FnGuide said on March 8 that a total of 36 KOSPI-listed companies posted a cash dividend yield of 5 percent or more last year and the number of such companies doubled in one year. During the same period, a total of 458 companies paid dividends, including 23 that paid their first
While Korean electric vehicle (EV) batteries have lost their competitiveness in the Chinese market due to the Chinese government's subsidy barrier, Chinese batteries continue to increase their market share in Korea. The Korean government needs to change its battery subsidy policy to protect dome
Short selling surged in the Korean stock market in February due to the spread of COVID-19 infections. Short sellers such as foreign investors may have made a fortune, stock market experts say.The average daily short selling volume in the KOSPI market hit 595.9 billion won in March, KRX Short Selling
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Foreigner-only casino sales continued to rise in February, despite decreased visitor numbers due to Covid-19. In the case of Paradise, the loss of high rollers was limited, while at GKL, hold ratio
The Asian Development Bank said on March 8 that South Korea’s GDP would decrease by more than US$16.53 billion or approximately 1 percent and the number of employed South Koreans would decrease by 357,000 or 1.19 percent in the worst-case scenario of COVID-19, which assumes that a ban on travel to C
Bond yields are falling rapidly as investors are flocking to safe assets with the spread of COVID-19 raising the possibility of a global economic recession.The three-year government bond yield closed at 1.078 percent on March 6, down 2.6 basis points from a week ago, after dropping to 1.01 percent l
Citibank Korea and Korea Development Bank have decided to reject the proposal put forward by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to arbitrate the drawn-out KIKO dispute.Citibank made the decision at a board meeting held on March 4. It is one of the five commercial banks that pondered whether to
Delta Air Lines, which is known as an ally of Hanjin Group chairman Cho Won-tae in a proxy war on the group’s control, has acquired an additional stake in Hanjin KAL, the group’s holding company.Delta announced on May 5 that it has additionally acquired 1,761,074 Hanjin KAL shares (a 2.98 percent st
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at minjae.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Major domestic REITs management players have recently completed a series of real estate purchases. Accordingly, expectations are strengthening that they will take these additional assets under ma
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on March 5 that a total of 98 countries are prohibiting or restricting the entry of South Koreans with the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections having topped 6,000 in South Korea.At present, 23 countries are quarantining South Koreans and non-South Korean
The National Assembly unexpectedly voted down an amendment to the Act on Special Cases concerning Internet-only Bank on March 5. On the other hand, the National Assembly is expected to pass an amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act.The former amendment is to delete the history of Fair Trad
The following is an analysis from Shinhan Investment Corp. of the impact that the spread of COVID-19 has on the Korean economy, capital markets and major industrial sectors. -- Ed. Economy: Ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the real economyThe COVID-19 outbreak affects the real economy: 1)decline in dom
Korean petrochemical companies are cutting their petrochemical production volume as the economy has hit an unexpected setback due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. SK Energy, LG Chem, and Hanwha Total Petrochemical have begun to reduce production of major products such as refined oil, ethylene, a
LG Display's LCD market share has fallen to fourth place. The drop in its LCD market ranking reflects the shift in its focus from LCD panels to OLED (organic light emitting diode) panels in response to a price war initiated by China.LG Display placed fourth in the LCD TV panel market in the four
South Korea’s current account surplus dropped approximately 70 percent from a year ago in January this year due to a decline in exports. The Bank of Korea announced on March 5 that the surplus hit a nine-month low of US$1,006 million in January. For reference, it was more than US$3.29 billion in Jan
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. She can be reached at heeyeon.lim@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Structural reform of indemnity/auto insurance to lead to reasonable premium adjustment in 2020The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has included the structural reform of medical indemnity and
Samsung Electronics announced on March 4 that it has signed a commercial agreement with Spark New Zealand to take part in building Spark’s 5G network in 2020.Spark, New Zealand’s largest mobile carrier, has been working with Samsung on network innovation, starting with 5G trials in 2019. These trial
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jack.baek@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Novarex is a domestic top-three OEM player for health functional foods. In 2021, we expect to see a quantum jump in the firm’s earnings, beginning with the expansion of its Osong plant. By expandi