Brokerages' Q3 earnings more than halve

SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean brokerage firms' earnings more than
halved in the third quarter of fiscal 2008 as a global credit crisis pummeled the
local stock market, the bourse operator said Tuesday.
The combined net profit of 20 local security companies stood at 754.9 billion won
(US$522.4 million) in the October-December period, down 59.6 percent from a year
earlier, the Korea Exchange said in a statement.
"The stock market slump made a big dent in the companies' third-quarter earnings
by sharply driving down fee income," an exchange official said.
The KOSPI, Korea's key stock index, fell 22.3 percent in the three-month period
and tumbled 40 percent for the whole of 2008, wiping out 375 trillion won in
stock value.
The brokerages' aggregate revenue, however, climbed 57.2 percent on-year to 26
trillion won in the third quarter, the exchange said.
pbr@yna.co.kr
(END)