Stem Cells Emerge as Leading Stock
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Stem cells and alternative energy rose as the new leading themes of the stock market this year. Grand canal shares, meanwhile, are sinking.
Statistics from the Korea Exchange, the country's stock market operator, showed that the junior stock market, Kosdaq, is continuing to be swayed by government policies and current events.
Stem cell-related stocks, including RNL Bio and Innocell, have recorded an average 57.6 percent investment return so far this year as of Feb.13.
Stem cell stocks came back to the throne on the news last month as disgraced stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk succeeding at cloning a dog.
RNL Bio, which announced having successfully cloned two beagle puppies from stem cells grown from fat cells, soared by over 160 percent this year, rising to a daily high of 15 percent six times.
Alternative energy stocks also rose as new leaders of the tech-heavy stock market, following the government's focus on green energy to boost the economy. Yonghyun Base Materials, which produces parts for wind power plants, had stock prices rise 57.1 percent from the beginning of this year, and wind power plant shares recorded 36.5 percent investment returns on average so far this year.
Notable is that these theme stocks are pulling up the market as institutional investors buy them. In the past, such stocks quickly lost steam, as only small investors bet on them. Hana Daetoo Securities said the government policy-related stocks are likely to continue gaining attention for the time being.
``Institutional investors have been buying alternative energy stocks, green new deal stocks and bio stocks in the Kosdaq this year,'' said Baik Hyo-won, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities. The top 10 stocks on the buying list of the institutional investors recorded nearly 25 percent investment returns.
Grand canal shares, which have been fluctuating in recent years on the words of President Lee Myung-bak, seem to have lost steam. Ee-wha Construction, Tuksu Engineering & Construction and other grand canal related shares fell 12.6 percent on average this year.
``When government policy becomes concrete, the firms that benefit from the policy in terms of sales and profits will be sorted from those failing to do so,'' Baik said, asking for careful investment in policy stocks.