Finance minister discusses market stabilization amid rising rates, Mideast uncertainty

South Korea's Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol convened a meeting on Friday to discuss strategies for stabilizing financial markets amid rising interest rates and heightened volatility in global markets due to renewed tensions in the Middle East. During the discussion, the participants acknowledged the ongoing upward pressure on interest rates, attributed to the surge in global government bond issuance and corporate bond sales by AI businesses.

They also recognized that the recent increase in crude oil prices, driven by Middle Eastern tensions, could further exacerbate market instability. The government committed to safeguarding vulnerable borrowers from the adverse effects of rate hikes, emphasizing that the current situation is manageable but could worsen with significant interest rate increases.

Furthermore, the meeting reviewed the ongoing reform of the KOSDAQ market, where the government had planned to raise the minimum market capitalization requirement for continued listing from 20 billion won to 30 billion won, starting in January. However, they decided to postpone this implementation by six months to July next year, taking into account the time needed for the market to recover from recent volatility.

To mitigate the impact of potential delistings, companies meeting specific financial criteria will be permitted to transfer their listings from the KOSDAQ to the small businesses-focused Korea New Exchange (KONEX) without undergoing a liquidation trading period.

Brief written by urgent.news from Yonhap News's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.