The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on Aug. 10 that foreigners’ bond holdings in the South Korean market increased by 4.6 trillion won and hit an all-time high of 233.5341 trillion won last month.In July this year, their net bond purchase was 5.8 trillion won, consisting of 2.4 tril
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY, target price of KRW110,000; still industry top pick We maintain BUY and our TP of KRW110,000 on Kiwoom Securities:(1) Trading income eroded on exposure to the stock market, but bond valuation loss
The author is a fixed income strategist of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at jk.ahn@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Strong US jobs report for July lends support to Fed's tightening stanceThe US job market data for July came in far above expectations. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 528,000, markin
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jk.lim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Recommendation: Sell 3y KTBs; buy 10y KTBs, roll over to 1y KTBs or shorterConcerns over a global economic slowdown have pushed bond yields down. The U.S, economy contracted 0.9% QoQ (annualized) amid nosediving
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY but lower target price 5.8% to KRW81,000 We lower our TP on KIH by 5.8% to KRW81,000. Despite 2Q22 earnings falling far short of the market consensus and our estimate, we maintain BUY, as:(1) losse
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on July 28 that it is considering using financial companies’ foreign currency bonds for emergency U.S. dollar procurement. According to experts, this is to prevent foreign capital outflow after the U.S. interest rate change on July 27.According to the orga
Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong had a meeting on July 28 after the Fed’s key rate exceeded South Korea’s for the first time in 2.5 years.Hours before the meeting, the Fed raised its key rate from 1.5 to 1.75 percent to 2.25 to 2.5 percent. The current ke
The author is a fixed income strategist of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at jk.ahn@shinhan.com. -- Ed. What happens when the base rate exceeds or nears neutral levelsThe Bank of Korea (BOK) appears to have shifted gears from monetary easing to tightening, given the governor’s recent rem
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on July 21 that foreigners’ interest income and capital gains derived from investment in government and monetary stabilization bonds would become tax-free and the introduction of financial investment income tax and cryptocurrency taxation would be postpo
The author is an analyst of NH Securities and Investment. He can be reached at yk.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. The refining and petrochemical industries both appear to be approaching cycle inflection points. Refining players are seeing valuation de-rating, and petrochemical companies’ valuations look to be
The author is a fixed income strategist of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at jk.ahn@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Concerns over US recession to grow regardless of July rate hikeThe market’s focus is back on US monetary policies. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the US rose 9.1% YoY in June, marki
The Korea Securities Depository announced on July 18 that foreign currency securities in custody and foreign currency securities settlement totaled US$83.53 billion and US$207.96 billion in the first half of this year, respectively. The respective figures fell 17 percent and 9.4 percent compared to
Deputy Prime Minister Choo Kyung-ho remarked on July 16 that the duty-free ceiling applied to traveler belongings might be raised to US$800 so that the tourism industry can better deal with COVID-19. The current ceiling is US$600, which has been applied since September 2014.He also said that the gov
The South Korean government is considering applying non-taxation to foreigners’ investment in the South Korean bond market. Although the government is mentioning global standards as its reason, this implies that the depreciation of the won and inflation are already beyond a tolerable level.Deputy Pr
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at jiyoony@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Sales growth for The Nature Holdings’ travel carrier and NG Kids products should stand out in its 2Q22 results. Despite rising department store commission fees and parcel delivery costs, our earnin
The author is a fixed income strategist of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at jk.ahn@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Focus placed on fighting inflation despite downside risks to growthThe Monetary Policy Board (MPB) of the Bank of Korea (BOK) made a unanimous decision to raise the base rate by 50bp t
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY, cut target price 12.3% to KRW50,000 We cut our TP by 12.3% to KRW50,000 but maintain BUY on Shinhan FG given that:(1) NII growth should continue amid rising interest rates;(2) profitability should
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY but cut target price 23.5% to KRW52,000 We cut our TP by 23.5% to KRW52,000 on Hana FG but we maintain BUY because:(1) the firm’s standout growth has continued, with NII ramping up on higher NIM; (
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at cygun101@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY but lower target price 17.5% to KRW16,500 We lower our TP by 17.5% to KRW16,500 on Woori FG but maintain BUY based on the following:(1) Profit contributions from bank subsidiaries have been relativ
The Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea raised the key interest rate by an unprecedented 0.5 percentage point to 2.25 percent on July 13.The board described its action as a pre-emptive policy response aimed at preventing the entrenchment of high inflation. It said high inflation is continuing