FSS warns overseas property funds can lead to total losses SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) — Investors in publicly offered overseas real estate funds can lose their entire principal, South Korea's financial watchdog warned, cautioning that the products are riskier than their property backing suggests. According to a report released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Monday, along with a list of major dispute cases involving overseas real estate funds, to raise awareness of the risks such funds bear. Overseas funds typically bu August 10, 2026

KOSDAQ surges as leveraged ETF frenzy cools SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) -South Korea's junior market staged a strong comeback Monday, leaping nearly 7 percent to push its gain so far this month toward 20 percent. The KOSDAQ closed at 854.47, up 55.66 points, or 7.0 percent. Its bigger sibling KOSPI added 40.89 points to close at 6,299.66, up 0.7 percent, with the advance built on utilities, defense, shipbuilding and battery names rather than semiconductors. The broader spread of gains came as a speculative frenzy in single- August 10, 2026

EcoPro BM higher as $900 million fundraising backs nickel project SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) —Shares of KOSDAQ-listed battery materials maker EcoPro BM rose Monday after the company spelled out how it would use proceeds from its 1.2 trillion won ($850 million) rights offering, with nearly two-thirds earmarked for a nickel smelter project in Indonesia. As of 2:55 p.m., the stock was trading at 114,300 won ($81), up 6.82 percent, after rising as high as 115,400 won earlier in the day. According to a revised securities registration statement fi August 10, 2026

Economic outlook remains uncertain despite strong chip exports: KDI SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - Exports of semiconductors, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled memory chip boom, are boosting South Korea's economic recovery, but uncertainty at home and abroad remains as high prices and slowing employment continue to cloud the outlook, a state-run think tank said. In its economic outlook released on Monday, the Korea Development Institute said, "Exports and facility investment posted strong gains, supported in part by robust deman August 10, 2026

Korean investors return to U.S. stocks without deserting KOSPI SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) -South Korea’s campaign to draw investor money back home has failed to break the country’s appetite for U.S. stocks, with overseas buying resuming in June and accelerating through early August, even without easing up on buying at home. Nonfinancial corporations and other investors — a Bank of Korea category that includes households and companies outside the financial sector — sold a net $525.7 million of overseas equities in the sec August 10, 2026

BOK revamps monetary bonds as market liquidity thins SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - The Bank of Korea is out to sharpen the appeal of its policy bonds by concentrating issuance into fewer, larger benchmark securities, as outstanding central-bank debt falls below 100 trillion won ($70.6 billion) while government bonds increasingly dominate Korea’s public fixed-income market. The overhaul will also divide early redemptions into a predictable schedule and a more discretionary operation, giving the central bank greater flexibility to ma August 10, 2026

KOSDAQ-listed biotech Alteogen rallies on BlackRock stake SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) — Shares of South Korean biotech firm Alteogen jumped more than 15 percent Monday after BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, disclosed that its combined holdings in the company had crossed 5 percent. As of 11:17 a.m., Alteogen was trading at 346,500 won ($244.74), up 13.77 percent from the previous session. The rally followed a regulatory filing submitted Friday by BlackRock Fund Advisors, which showed that the firm and its affiliated ent August 10, 2026

South Korea warns of new voice-phishing scam laundering stolen funds SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) — South Korean scammers are using loan offers to gain access to low-credit borrowers’ bank accounts and launder money stolen through voice phishing, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) warned Monday. The warning came after the regulator found that criminal groups were increasingly using gift certificates to move stolen funds instead of transferring the money or withdrawing it from ATMs, making the proceeds harder to trace. The scheme begins August 10, 2026

Seoul rebounds on Samsung Electronics payout hopes SEOUL, August 10 (AJP) - Seoul stocks opened sharply higher on Monday as a brokerage note arguing Samsung Electronics is preparing a shareholder return package more than ten times its current size pulled buyers back into chip shares after a week that stripped 5.1 percent off the market. The KOSPI rose 61.76 points to 6,320.53 in early trading, a gain of 1.0 percent. The bounce was stronger on the junior market, where the KOSDAQ climbed 3.1 percent to 823.38, and it extended a August 10, 2026

Can KOSDAQ sustain its rally after stricter ETF rules? SEOUL, August 9 (AJP) - South Korea's junior KOSDAQ market has regained momentum after stricter rules on single-stock leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds (ETFs) took effect, as short-term capital that had been concentrated in such products linked to heavyweight stocks flowed into other areas of the market. According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, the KOSDAQ rose 23.89 percent to 798.81 points last Friday from 644.78 about a week earlier, just before the rules took ef August 9, 2026