SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – South Korea’s overall market capitalisation surged by almost KRW100 trillion (USD72 billion) in the first quarter of this year, driven by significant rises in stock prices across vital sectors, notably semiconductors.
On Tuesday, data released by the Korea CXO Institute revealed that the collective market cap of 2,692 domestic companies leaped by KRW96 trillion between January and March, reaching a total of KRW2,599 trillion, excluding preferred shares’ value.
The number of stocks with a total market cap of KRW1 trillion in the period grew from 259 at the beginning of the year to 263 at the end of March. Eighteen new stocks joined the “1 trillion-won club” while 14 stocks were removed, with their market cap declining below KRW1 trillion.
As the global semiconductors industry is on course for a rebound, SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chip maker saw the biggest market cap growth of 28.5 per cent from January to the end of March, growing from KRW103.6 trillion to KRW133.2 trillion.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory chip maker and the country’s largest conglomerate by market cap, also witnessed its total market cap edge up by 3.5 per cent to KRW491.9 trillion.
Other companies that saw a market cap increase during the period include Celltrion, rising by KRW7.7 trillion, Hanmi Semiconductor by KRW7.09 trillion, HLB by KRW6.88 trillion and Hyundai Motor by KRW6.87 trillion.
Seven firms joined the top 100, including HD Hyundai Electric, SKC and Enchem.
The market cap of LG Energy Solution, on the other hand, marked the biggest decrease of KRW8.07 trillion in the first quarter, from KRW100.5 trillion to KRW92.4 trillion.
Naver’s market cap also decreased by KRW6.5 trillion, while Posco Holdings and Ecopro Materials also saw their market cap decline by KRW5.5 trillion and KRW4.7 trillion, respectively. The market cap of LG Chem and Posco Future M also decreased by KRW3.8 trillion and KRW3.7 trillion, respectively.
Combining the market cap of affiliates, Samsung Group topped the list, growing KRW36.3 trillion in the three months to reach KRW754.5 trillion. SK Group beat LG Group to grab the No 2 spot, with its market cap amounting to KRW207.7 trillion. LG Group saw its market cap decrease by 6.7 per cent to KRW177.3 trillion, while Hyundai Motor Group’s market cap grew by 10.5 per cent to KRW152.5 trillion.
