Foreign investors took out $890 million in stock funds from the Seoul stock market last month, a Bank of Korea report showed on Sept. 11. Stock market watchers attributed the net outflow to profit-taking.The BOK said fresh foreign funds worth U$670 million flowed into Korea for investment in Korean
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongkil.noh@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Seegene and Alteogen will likely be added to the MSCI Korea Index. We estimate the probability of SK Biopharm’s inclusion in the MSCI Korea as being less than 50%, as it slightly fails to satisf
The authors are strategists of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at jaeeun.kim@nhqv.com and yh.kim@nhqv.com, respectively. – Ed. Portfolio strategy: Stock picking during earnings seasonThe current stock market upcycle is likely to be further led by growth stocks. But, with the August e
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Overseas subsidiaries’ 2Q20 earnings are likely to come in sluggish due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we believe that the firm’s fundamentals remain intact. Margins have been improving at the dom
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on June 19 that South Korea’s foreign direct investment totaled US$12.62 billion in the first quarter of this year, down 15.3 percent from a year ago. The investment fell little in January and February but dropped 45.6 percent year on year in March.Korea
A former CEO of Samsung Electronics who once ran the company’s’ Chinese operations has moved to a Chinese semiconductor company, causing concern about an outflow of the Korean semiconductor industry’s high-quality human resources.According to news reports, former Samsung president Jang Won-gi was re
The Bank of Korea cut the key rate by 0.25 percentage point on May 28. As a result, the interest rate reflecting the rate of inflation, 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent, has become zero.Since the central bank cut the key rate two months ago, the market liquidity has increased a lot and the South Korean go
South Korean depository institutions’ external debts totaled 271,346.9 billion won in the first quarter of this year, up 7 percent from the previous quarter and up 11 percent from a year ago. In addition, the debts increased by approximately 20 percent compared to two years ago. In that quarter, the
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. As the portion of direct financing in the US financial market exceeds 90%, a negative FF rate is unlikely. We expect the Fed to continue cutting its financial market support. Given Korea’s record-hi
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at mj1224@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Recommend OVERWEIGHT on telecom service sector with LG Uplus as top pickWe initiate our coverage on the telecom service sector with an OVERWEIGHT rating. The three telcos under our coverage will like
The Bank of Korea announced on April 10 that foreign investors posted a net outflow of US$11.04 billion in the South Korean stock market last month, the largest since records began in January 2007.On the other hand, they posted a net inflow of US$3.66 billion in the bond market with the 10-year gove
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. With US non-financial companies still showing strong demand for cash, short-term markets remain jittery. In April, the Fed is likely to pursue CPFF and QE expansion. While the BOK will likely mainta
The Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Exchange announced on April 6 that the top 20 South Korean companies in terms of dividend payment are scheduled to pay foreigners a total dividend of US$4.37 billion this month.In the case of Samsung Electronics, which pays quarterly dividends, the upcomin
The South Korean government announced on March 25 that levies for foreign currency soundness will be temporarily exempted so that financial companies’ foreign currency borrowing costs can be reduced, foreign currency liquidity coverage ratio requirements will be temporarily loosened from 80 percent,
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at sh.kim@shinhan.com and jongseon@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Liquidity risk regulations more direct and stricter under Basel III vs. Basel IIThe collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, caused by excessive exposure to the subpri
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at mj1224@shinhan.com. -- Ed. NCsoft shares have corrected by 20.6% from peak levels recorded at the start of the year. Major games including Lineage M and Lineage II M continue to post solid performance, but shares have correcte
The Korean won-U.S. dollar exchange rate surged 40 won on March 19, reaching the highest point in 11 years. The exchange rate soared to as high as 1,296 won per U.S. dollar at one time as a large portion of the 13 trillion won that recently left the stock market was used to hoard U.S. dollars.The wo
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at sangho.kim@shinhan.com. -- Ed. On March 13, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indexes plunged by more than 8%, triggering the first-ever double circuit breakers (temporary trading halt). The Korean government held an emergency policy meeti
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Both safe and risky asset prices plunged last week on concerns over a slowdown in the real economy. But, an aggressive policy response by governments should lead to a drop in cash demand, helping to
Global funds are flowing out of bond funds as well as stock funds amid the spread of COVID-19.According to Emerging Portfolio Fund Research, a total of US$38.47 billion flowed out of global bond funds this month alone. Earlier this year, bond funds investing in advanced markets attracted US$13 billi