benchmark interest rate
Scope
Date
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Central bank
S.Korea’s inflation dips below 2% for 1st time in 42 months
South Korea’s headline inflation slowed below 2% for the first time in three and a half years in September on lower international oil prices, ...
Oct 02, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate bonds
Fed’s big rate cut spurs Korean firms to issue foreign bonds
South Korean companies rushed to issue foreign currency bonds after the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for the first time in more than fo...
Sep 25, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Tech, Media & Telecom
Hyundai Motor Group becomes KT's largest shareholder
Hyundai Motor Group has officially become the largest shareholder of South Korea's major telecommunications company KT Corp., following a public int...
Sep 20, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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ESG
SK Enmove gets gold rating of EcoVadis ESG evaluation
South Korea’s lube oil maker SK Enmove Co., Korea’s top oil refiner SK Innovation Co.'s subsidiary, said on Thursday it received a Gold ...
Sep 19, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
S.Korea’s Q2 GDP slows 0.2%, upholds rate cut expectations
South Korea’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter on weaker domestic consumption and investment by private businesses, heightening ex...
Sep 05, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Central bank
August inflation puts BOK under fire for delayed pivot
South Korea’s inflation moderated to the government’s target of 2.0% in August, its slowest increase in three years and five months, put...
Sep 04, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Food & Beverage
Goldman Sachs to sell stake in Korea’s top food ingredient wholesaler
Goldman Sachs is set to sell its stake in South Korea’s leading food ingredient wholesaler in an estimated 120 billion won ($89.4 million) dea...
Sep 03, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Corporate bonds
POSCO Int'l wins first credit rating from S&P, Moody's
South Korea's POSCO International Corp. said on Thursday that it received its first-ever credit ratings from Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moo...
Aug 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity
MBK Partners’ sale of Homeplus Express hits snag over valuation gap
MBK Partners’ planned sale of Homeplus Express, the supermarket chain of South Korean hypermarket operator Homeplus, has hit a snag as potenti...
Aug 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Retail
BGF Retail, Deeping Source to co-work on smart convenience stores
BGF Retail Co., the operator of South Korea’s leading convenience store chain CU, said on Thursday that it signed a memorandum of understand...
Aug 29, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Central bank
Bank of Korea holds rate steady, signals pivot to easing soon
South Korea’s central bank held interest rates steady but cut its inflation and growth forecasts for the year and signaled that it will pivot ...
Aug 28, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Banking & Finance
Kookmin to tighten loan limits to cool housing market
Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest lender under KB Financial Group, will tighten lending to curb mortgage loan growth in line with the govern...
Aug 26, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Private equity
Korea’s Tmax Group buys back software developer for $612 mn
South Korea’s Tmax Group bought back the software making unit it had sold to a local private equity firm two years ago to try to boost synergy...
Aug 23, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Automobiles
Hyundai Motor, Kia gets A- credit rating from S&P Global
Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. said on Thursday that S&P Global upgraded their credit ratings from BBB+ to A-, with a Stable outlook for both c...
Aug 22, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Central bank
BOK signals autumn rate cut as inflation, economic growth slow
South Korea’s central bank is likely to reduce interest rates in the next three months as inflation is expected to ease amid a slowdown in Asi...
Aug 22, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Foreign exchange
Korean won at 5-mth high; BOK may not lower interest rate
The South Korean won on Monday touched a five-month high as the central bank may not immediately cut its policy interest rate due to rising property...
Aug 19, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Acquisition loan rates dip to pre-pandemic levels in S.Korea
Interest rates on acquisition financing in South Korea are set to stabilize at the 5% level, rates last seen before COVID-19 swept the world, height...
Aug 15, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean stock market
Korea’s retail investors buy stocks on dips in turmoil
South Korea’s individual investors took the recent turmoil in stock markets as an opportunity to buy shares at home and abroad on dips, bettin...
Aug 13, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Debt financing
Korean firms rush to sell bonds with yields at over 2-yr low
South Korea’s corporate bond markets are having an unusually busy summer as companies are rushing to sell debts to lock in lower interest cost...
Aug 08, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Artificial intelligence
LG unveils Korea’s 1st open source AI to take on Meta, Google
LG Group, South Korea’s fourth-biggest conglomerate, on Wednesday introduced the country’s first open-sourced artificial intelligence la...
Aug 07, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Korean stock market
South Korean stocks rebound but still on rollercoaster
South Korean stocks on Tuesday recouped some of their hefty losses caused by the previous day's global panic selling after financial authorities iss...
Aug 06, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Real estate
Korea's warehouses suffer oversupply, rising vacancies
Logistics centers in Seoul suburbs are suffering oversupply and rising vacancy rates, according to a report from South Korean commercial real estate...
Aug 02, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
BOK in limbo on rate decison with July inflation below 3%
South Korea’s headline inflation remained in the 2% range for the fourth straight month in July despite a reacceleration, complicating the Ban...
Aug 02, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Economy
South Korea’s Inflation reaccelerates in July
South Korea’s headline inflation picked up at a stronger-than-expected pace in July, reaccelerating due to higher prices for agricultural and ...
Aug 02, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Markets
Korean treasury yields fall to lowest level in over 2 years
South Korea’s treasury bond yields fell to their lowest points in more than two years, slipping below the 3% level for the first time since Ap...
Jul 30, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Petrochemicals
S.Korea's refining industry sees record export of 245.3 mn barrels
South Korea's four major oil refiners—SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil Corp., and HD Hyundai Oilbank—achieved a record high in petroleum pr...
Jul 25, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Real estate
Seoul prime office deals at 10-year low on rate uncertainty
Prime office transactions in Seoul hit a 10-year low in the second quarter due to delayed fundraising amid uncertainties of the central bank’s...
Jul 24, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Banking & Finance
KB Financial's quarterly profit hits record on interest margin growth
South Korea’s largest financial holding group KB Financial Group Inc. has logged its record quarterly profit in the April-June period, thanks ...
Jul 24, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Banking & Finance
KB Kookmin Bank adds Indonesian to banking platform
South Korea's KB Kookmin Bank said on Monday it launched Indonesian language services on its mobile banking platform KB Starbanking to expand its ...
Jul 23, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
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Mergers & Acquisitions
MG Non-Life Insurance deal falls through with no bidders
The sale of South Korean mid-sized insurer MG Non-Life Insurance Co. has been canceled as the financially distressed insurer failed to attract any b...
Jul 19, 2024 (Gmt+09:00)
Latest News
- 1 Hyundai, Waymo forge multi-year, strategic partnership for self-driving vehicles
- 2 AI startup MarqVision raises $16.5 mn to close Series A
- 3 Taihan Cable wins $630 mn power grid project in Singapore
- 4 Korean startup scene is gloomy, say 2 out of 5 startup CEOs
- 5 MBK ups stakes for Korea Zinc to match buyback offer