Winners & Losers

After Korea successfully launched its

first-ever space rocket

Wednesday, the share prices of small-sized firms that participated in the project surged with some hitting the daily 15-percent upside limit.

At the news that the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), also called Naro, deployed its payload satellite, individual investors snapped up the stocks of the firms, leading the rise.

By contrast, large-sized firms including Korean Air and Hyundai Heavy Industries did not join the bullish run although the country’s top flag carrier and the world’s primary shipbuilder were also part of the space project.

Analysts pointed out that individuals opted to invest in small companies, whose price tend to fluctuate by big margins, for greater short-term gains instead of purchasing stocks of big-sized companies whose share prices show far less volatility.

However, experts warn against the large-sized investment in the so-called “theme stocks” since their price changes quite often have little to do with their fundamentals, which might cause huge losses over the short period of time.

Samsung Electronics

will be fined 1 million won for belatedly reporting a fatal hydrofluoric acid leak at its plant, which wound up killing one worker and injuring four others.

The financial penalty will be levied on Samsung and its subcontractor for violating the relevant regulations, which stipulate that companies must instantly notify such accidents to the authorities.

As much as 10 liters of hydrofluoric acid leaked at the world’s No. 1 memory chipmaker’s semiconductor plant located some 60 kilometers south of Seoul late last month. The material is an acute poison, which can damage lungs.