Seoul, Nov 11 — South Korea will extend its fuel tax cuts by another two months through January to ease the financial burden on the public amid lingering uncertainty in the Middle East, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy said the decision was made at a meeting of economy-related ministers chaired by Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il, taking into account the need to ease the burden on households and the government's capacity to respond to future price volatility.
Under the measure, the current tax cuts of 15 percent on gasoline and 25 percent on diesel and butane, originally set to expire at the end of this month, will remain in place through the end of January, reports Yonhap news agency.
The government has maintained the rates since May. The ministry said the larger tax cuts on diesel and butane reflect the importance of diesel to industrial and logistics operations and the widespread use of butane as fuel for small trucks.
Meanwhile, Seoul shares turned higher after a weak start on Wednesday amid concerns that hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation could prompt rate hikes down the road.
After opening 0.56 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) turned higher, trading up 13.71 points, or 0.26 percent, at 5,252.84 as of 9:15 a.m.
On Tuesday, the index gained 4.39 percent, buoyed by a rally in U.S. technology stocks and falling oil prices.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.3 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.74 percent.
U.S. consumer prices rose at a higher-than-expected rate of 0.3 percent in October from the previous month, stoking concerns that the Federal Reserve could pursue a more aggressive monetary tightening policy to curb inflation.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.2 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix declined 0.5 percent.