South Korean brokerages make W4.3tr in Q1, nearly half of last year's total

South Korea's securities firms posted a record quarterly net profit of 4.33 trillion won ($2.63 billion) in the first quarter this year, driven by a surge in stock trading activity, Financial Supervisory Service data showed Friday.

According to the FSS's provisional operating results, the combined net profit of 61 brokerages rose 77.1 percent on-year to 4.33 trillion won in the January-March period from 2.44 trillion won a year earlier.

The figure more than doubled from 1.86 trillion won in the ...