Business, Policy & regulation, Finance & markets
653 storiesApple and LG Electronics jointly develop smart home devices under LG brand
Apple and LG Electronics are jointly developing smart home devices — a camera-equipped video doorbell, smart door lock, security camera and smart thermostat — which will be sold under the LG brand, according to Bloomberg reports cited by Ko…
South Korea re-designates 92 population decline regions, adding Busan Geumjeong, Dongducheon and Tongyeong
South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety re-designated 92 cities, counties and districts as population decline regions on Oct. 7, up from 89 in the first designation five years ago. Busan's Geumjeong-gu, Gyeonggi's Dongducheon and …
China's central bank raises gold reserves for 23rd straight month
China's gold reserves stood at 77.47 million ounces, or about 2,409.59 tonnes, at the end of September, up 740,000 ounces (about 23.02 tonnes) from 76.73 million ounces (about 2,386.57 tonnes) a month earlier, according to figures carried b…
Kuaishou’s Kling AI plans Hong Kong IPO as early as next year, seeks $1bn
Kling AI, Kuaishou’s AI video service, plans to list in Hong Kong as early as next year, according to CLS, IT Home and 36Kr. IT Home reported the IPO could raise at least $1 billion and that CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS have been selected as…
Shinsegae invests $1bn in Warner Bros. deal as Paramount completes takeover
Shinsegae Group said its unit Shinsegae Property will invest $1bn (about 1.4 trillion won) in the takeover of Warner Bros. led by Paramount Skydance, alongside David Ellison and US investment firm RedBird. Paramount completed the acquisitio…
Goldman Sachs warns Samsung volatility may spike on Oct. 8 events
Goldman Sachs said Samsung Electronics shares could swing sharply on October 8, when preliminary third-quarter results fall on the same day as semiconductor ETF rebalancing, options expiry and the end of a share buyback. The bank cut its th…
POSCO completes second Argentine lithium plant, eyes 50,000-ton output
POSCO Holdings held a completion ceremony on 6 October local time for the upstream stage of its second brine lithium plant near the Hombre Muerto salt flat in Argentina, the company said on 7 October. The plant has 23,000 tons of annual lit…
SME Minister Lee So-young unveils startup venture regulatory innovation committee at audit
South Korea's SMEs and startups minister, Lee So-young, said on October 7 that her ministry will create a "Startup Venture Regulatory Innovation Committee" to find regulatory improvements, and set out plans to expand the small-business soci…
Korean court suspends market-cap delisting decisions; exchange halts two more exits
Seoul Southern District Court Civil Division 51 granted injunctions on Oct 2 suspending the Korea Exchange's delisting decisions against KOSPI-listed Joo Yeon Tech and KOSDAQ-listed KM Pharma until a main ruling. The court questioned the 45…
Nongshim floats 6-meter Shin Ramyun cup on London's Thames in brand campaign
Nongshim said it floated a roughly 6-meter-tall Shin Ramyun cup sculpture along the River Thames in London, departing Royal Docks on the afternoon of Oct 6 local time and passing the London Eye and Big Ben. The company said the installation…
Land minister says Gangnam, Yongsan home prices have turned negative
Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-seon told a National Assembly audit on Oct 7 that home prices in Seoul's Gangnam three districts and Yongsan have turned negative, and said price growth should ease with the market stabili…
Hong Kong stocks open higher; Hang Seng up 1%, Alibaba gains about 2.9%
Hong Kong shares opened higher on 6 October, with the Hang Seng Index up 1% and the Hang Seng Tech Index up 1.02%, according to CLS, Yicai and 36Kr. Alibaba rose about 2.9% at the open, while Baidu and Meituan gained nearly 2%, 36Kr reporte…
Korea's FSS tells 21 securities firms to shift to preventive internal audits
The Financial Supervisory Service met auditors from 21 securities firms in Seoul on Oct 7 and told them to move from audits that catch problems after the fact to preventive checks that protect investors first. The regulator cited repeated v…
Asian Games exemption row: Ahn Cheol-soo urges review, defense ministry regrets remarks
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo said on 7 October that the military service exemption for Asian Games gold medalists should be reviewed for abolition starting with this tournament, noting the rule is a presidential decree that Pre…
UAE sets phased caps on salt, sugar and fat in packaged foods, fines up to Dh500,000
The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention has begun implementing a resolution that caps sodium, sugar and fat in selected packaged foods, with phased limits running until the end of 2030. The rules apply to locally made and imported produ…
Japan antitrust watchdog raids Asahi, Kirin, Suntory, Sapporo over beer price cartel
Japan's Fair Trade Commission began a forced investigation on Oct 7 into Asahi Beer, Kirin Beer, Suntory and Sapporo Beer on suspicion of an Antimonopoly Act violation over beer prices. The four are suspected of coordinating wholesale price…
Defense minister: arts, sports military service exemption to be cut and abolished
South Korea's defense minister said on Oct 7 that the goal is to gradually reduce the arts and sports military service exemption and ultimately abolish it, after controversy over remarks by Asian Games football gold medallists about the exe…
Paramount Skydance closes $110bn Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition
Paramount Skydance completed its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110bn, and the combined company is named Skydance. Its shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD, while WBD shares stopped trading on Nasd…
Hyundai Engineering wins 870bn-won Incheon data centre project with KT Cloud
Hyundai Engineering said it won a project worth about 870 billion won to build a 50-megawatt data centre in Incheon, with KT Cloud as joint contractor and, according to KT Cloud, design-build-operate partner. Hyundai Engineering says constr…
Nikkei average recovers 70,000 level for first time in about three months
Tokyo's Nikkei average rose above 70,000 during trading on 5 October, the first time in about three months, as buying concentrated on semiconductor and AI-related shares. Nikkei reported the morning close at 70,037.61, up 1,728.15 points or…