POSCO successfully issued bonds abroad to attract an investment of US$2 billion. The U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, which were issued on Jan. 9, consist of US$0.7 billion of three-year, US$1 billion of five-year and US$0.3 billion of 10-year.The Fed raised rates by 50 basis points on Dec. 15. The bo
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY; raise target price 13.2% to KRW77,000 We maintain BUY on KIH and raise our TP by 13.2% to KRW77,000. We also add KIH to our list of securities stocks of interest given that (1) real estate project
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
Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp., the world's No. 2 NAND flash maker, and fourth-ranked Western Digital Corp. of the United States have revived their merger negotiations, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 4 (local time). If this U.S.-Japan NAND flash alliance becomes a reality, the global NAND flash marke
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) has successfully issued foreign currency bonds worth US$3.5 billion, the largest amount it has ever raised.The bank raised US$1 billion by selling three-year bonds, US$1.5 billion with five-year bonds and US$1 billion with 10-year bonds.Korea Eximbank
BlueOval SK, a joint venture between SK On Co. and global automaker Ford Motor Co., has applied for a loan under the U.S. government's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program, to finance the construction of its battery plants in the United States.BlueOval SK filed for the ATVM p
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jk.lim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Bank of Korea focus on consumer prices; rate freeze in January would not signal end of rate upcycleBoth the BoK and U.S. Fed have stated that they will step down the pace of rate hikes, but financial markets are
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Signs of accelerating tightening in DMs other than the US have recently been confirmed. However, a shift in tightening from the US to other DMs is typical in the latter half of US rate hike cycles.
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Despite the slowdown in semiconductor demand due to the global economic recession, HPSP’s sales of high-pressure hydrogen annealing equipment should continue to benefit from tech migration. Based on c
The ruling and opposition parties reached an agreement on the budget bill for 2023 on Dec. 22. The floor leaders of the two parties agreed to lower the corporate tax rate by 1 percentage point across all tax bands. The ruling party pushed for a 3-percentage point cut for the top tax band, while leav
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Rather than hawkish comments from policymakers, the market is focused on November CPI and retail sales index data. For the time being, the US bond market will remain on a hard landing, dovish transi
Contera Pharma, Bukwang Pharm's subsidiary in Denmark, announced on Dec. 19 that it has recently opened a new research center at its research center in DTU Science Park in Hørsholm, north of Copenhagen, Denmark.Contera Pharma is a Danish biotech startup specializing in central nervous system dis
The South Korean government is aiming to join the World Government Bond Index (WGBI) in March next year.South Korea became a candidate in September this year. For a country to become a part of the index, its government bonds outstanding must be at least US$50 billion, its S&P credit rating must be A
Ultium Cells, an electric vehicle battery joint venture between LG Energy Solution and GM, has secured a US$2.5 billion loan from the U.S. government, the Korean battery maker announced on Dec. 13.Ultium Cells signed a policy loan agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Dec. 12 (U.S. l
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at hyejung.jung@kbfg.com. -- Ed. National Assembly rejects revisions to KEPCO Act— On Dec 8, the National Assembly rejected revisions to the KEPCO Act that would raise the ceiling for bond issuances. The KEPCO ceiling is currently set 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
Korean ETF investors are betting on a fall in domestic stock prices while moving to safe assets. The Korea Exchange announced on Dec. 8 that KODEX Bond Active (AA- or higher) attracted 160 billion won in the first week of this month, followed by KODEX Inverse (60.3 billion won) and TIGER NASDAQ 100
Last month, business loans outstanding showed the most rapid increase since June 2009 with the corporate bond market shrinking. Household loans outstanding slightly decreased, with the amount of increase in mortgage loans decreasing.The Bank of Korea announced on Dec. 8 that business loans outstandi
The Bank of Korea said in its report on Dec. 8 that foreign currency financing conditions may deteriorate next year, with the Fed continuing with monetary tightening and the U.S. dollar liquidity decreasing fast.“The TED spread, which stood at 15.6 basis points early this year, reached this year’s h
SK Telecom conducted demand forecasting on Dec. 6 in order to issue 250 billion won of corporate bonds. The final demand is more than 1.9 trillion won. Its 10-year bond issuance target is 20 billion won and the final demand for the bond is 150 billion won or so.A recovery in investor sentiment is be