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Firms with over $6.87 bil. in market cap surge on KOSPI rally

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By Yonhap
  • Published KST
People walk down a street in Seoul’s financial district of Yeouido, Sept. 23, 2021. Yonhap

People walk down a street in Seoul’s financial district of Yeouido, Sept. 23, 2021. Yonhap

The number of Korean companies with a market capitalization exceeding 10 trillion won ($6.87 billion) has jumped nearly 30 percent since the Lee Jae Myung government took office in June, driven by a strong rally in the local stock markets, the main bourse said Sunday.

As of Friday, 61 companies listed on the benchmark KOSPI or tech-heavy KOSDAQ markets had a market valuation of more than 10 trillion won, up from 47 at the end of May, according to data from the Korea Exchange (KRX).

The total includes 58 firms on the KOSPI and three on the KOSDAQ — biotechnology firm Alteogen Inc., secondary battery materials producer EcoPro BM Co. and its affiliate EcoPro Co.

Companies that newly surpassed the 10 trillion-won threshold in the second half include battery-materials maker POSCO Future M Co., shipbuilding group HD Hyundai and Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co.

In addition to newcomers, LG Energy Solution Ltd., the nation's leading battery producer, joined the "100 trillion-won market cap club," whose representative members include Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., the data showed.

Samsung Electronics' market value surged 73 percent to 575.4 trillion won from 332.7 trillion won over the cited period, while SK hynix's soared nearly threefold to 407.7 trillion won from 148.9 trillion won.

During the same period, the KOSPI's overall market capitalization climbed by 1,088 trillion won to 3,299 trillion won, with Samsung Electronics and SK hynix accounting for 46.1 percent of the increase.

The KOSPI index itself jumped 44.8 percent to close at 4,011.57 on Friday, up from 2,770.84 on June 4, when the new administration was inaugurated.

Individual investors bought a net 8.56 trillion won worth of shares from May through Friday, while institutions were net buyers of 900.5 billion won.

Foreign investors, who had been net buyers from May to October, turned net sellers this month, offloading 9.1 trillion won through Friday on profit-taking.