South Korea’s financial authorities loosened parts of their household loan management stance by raising this year’s lending growth target to 3 percent from 1.5 percent and planning 47.8 trillion won-plus in housing supply finance support. The move is expected to expand banks’ annual capacity for household loans to around 60 trillion won. Authorities also agreed not to block scraping all at once, opting to phase it down while preparing alternatives such as public MyData.

Five major South Korean brokerages posted combined second-quarter operating profit of 58.5 trillion won on a surge in stock market trading value, with all five setting new quarterly records. Daily average domestic stock trading value rose 39.8 percent from the previous quarter to 118.1 trillion won including ETFs, lifting brokerage commissions. Mirae Asset Securities led profits, helped by valuation gains on investments including SpaceX. Korea Investment, Kiwoom, NH Investment and Samsung Securities also reported sharp rises.