The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at esshim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Tovis manufactures industrial monitors and TFT-LCD modules. We maintain our expectations for high earnings growth on both recovering orders from casinos (in line with endemic status for Covid-19) and
The Bank of Korea announced on Nov. 7 that its second-phase central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment has been completed regarding offline transactability, interest payment and redemption, cross-border remittance, etc.The first phase was conducted from August to December last year. At that tim
The Korea Customs Service announced on Nov. 6 that illegal foreign exchange transactions uncovered in the first three quarters of this year amount to 2.396 trillion won, whereas last year’s total is 1.3495 trillion won. “Of this year’s total, no less than 2.37 trillion won is illegal remittances and
Heungkuk Life Insurance failed in US$500 million early bond redemption scheduled for Nov. 9. This is the first time since 2009 that a South Korean financial institution failed in an early redemption of foreign currency bonds.Investors’ concerns are increasing rapidly. The company attempted at US$300
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com. -- Ed. The Fed is facing the trilemma of balancing: 1) inflation; 2) financial stability; and 3) economic growth. The solution is to persuade the market that ‘bad is bad’ by easing financial regulations, a
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at ys.jung@nhqv.com -- Ed. Hyundai Glovis delivered a 3Q22 earnings surprise on favorable forex market conditions and one-off gains. While we positively view an anticipated mid/long-term rise in freight rates (spurred by contr
The Korea Development Institute said in its report on Oct. 26 that the strong dollar reduced South Korea’s trade deficit by US$2 billion in the second and third quarters of this year.According to the institute, the analysis is based on the 2000 to 2021 correlation between the KRW-USD exchange rate a
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at seongjin.kang@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY but cut target price by 17.6% to KRW28,000 We maintain BUY on Korean Air but cut our TP by 17.6% to KRW28,000. Given a slowing cargo market, we lowered 2022E/2023E OP by 11.7%/6.1%. A 0.6pp in
The Bank of Korea announced on Oct. 20 that residents’ foreign currency deposits increased by US$1.23 billion to US$89.5 billion last month. The deposits consist of those owned by local individuals and companies, foreigners staying for at least six months in South Korea, and foreign companies doing
The Federation of Korean Industries and the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea held the 34th Korea-U.S. Business Council meeting in Seoul on Oct. 20.At the meeting, they discussed the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act on South Korean enterprises, energy-related c
People Power Party lawmaker Yun Ju-keyng remarked on Oct. 20 that card payments at foreign cryptocurrency exchanges totaled 324.6 billion won in the period of January 2018 to August this year and the amount is divided into 309,072 cases.BC Card payments added up to 75.8 billion won, followed by Shin
South Korean enterprises’ foreign currency borrowings are increasing rapidly. Specifically, the foreign currency borrowings of the top 100 non-financial listed companies in terms of assets increased from 10.4019 trillion won to 11.3075 trillion won in the first half of this year. Previously, the amo
The rapid depreciation of the Korean currency against the U.S. dollar and rising interest rates are weighing on South Korean enterprises’ overseas investment.LG Energy Solution’s biggest investment announced since January 2021 is US$4.4 billion to be invested in its joint venture with Honda. When it
The World Bank announced on Oct. 16 that South Korea’s nominal GNI per capita was US$34,980 in 2021, when that of Italy was US$37,510. For reference, in 2020, South Korea (US$32,930) topped Italy (US$32,380) to outdo a G7 state for the first time ever.In 2020, Italy’s economic growth rate was negati
The unprecedented shutdown of KakaoTalk messenger app that occurred on Oct. 15 clearly exposed the problems of a platform monopoly. The shutdown of the widely used mobile messenger app did not end with the suspension of about 20 related Kakao services. Other companies and government agencies that us
The possibility of South Korea’s credit crisis is rising, with interest rates going up and its economy slowing down. Its default risk indicators are surging, along with both household and corporate debts and interest burdens. Bloomberg recently reported that the Japanese and Chinese currencies are d
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Yoo Dong-soo remarked that a total of 5,763 illegal foreign exchange transactions for the purpose of cryptocurrency purchase were detected from January 2018 to August this year and the transactions add up to 2.2045 trillion won.“The figures were 1,285 cases and 372
People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Han-hong remarked on Oct. 11 that North Korean hackers sent 75 billion won to South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges.“It is likely that the money flowed back into the North after a surge in value,” he said, adding, “The abnormal overseas remittances the Financial Supe
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Koh Yong-jin remarked on Oct. 6 that Russia’s overdue loan repayment to South Korea was US$34.97 million at the end of June this year. Russia is supposed to repay US$280 million to South Korea by 2025.The South Korean government lent US$1.47 billion to Russia in 19
The Bank of Korea announced on Oct. 6 that South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by US$19.66 billion to US$416.77 billion last month. The amount of decrease is the largest since October 2008, when the reserves decreased by US$27.42 billion.“The October 2008 reserves were about 50 percent