Seven of the top 10 Kospi stocks by market cap have changed since end of last year
Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung Life and Samsung C&T among new entrants
Kosdaq also reshuffling around semiconductor equipment stocks
The rankings of Kospi's top stocks by market capitalization have been in flux this year. As volatility in the Kospi intensifies, the top positions have been reshuffled repeatedly. A surge in Samsung Electronics' share price and a boom in the semiconductor industry have pushed a wave of Samsung Group stocks into the upper tier, keeping the rankings in near-constant motion.
Korea Exchange data released Monday showed that seven of the top 10 stocks on the main bourse by market cap — excluding preferred shares — had changed positions compared with the end of last year, based on Friday's figures. Only Samsung Electronics at No. 1, SK Hynix at No. 2 and KB Financial at No. 10 held their places within the top 10.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics vaulted 29 spots to fifth from 34th at the end of last year. The move reflects market expectations for stronger earnings driven by rising prices for multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs, used in AI applications. Based on Friday's closing price, the stock has surged 589 percent this year.
Samsung Life also jumped sharply, climbing to seventh this month from 18th at the end of last year, on expectations that a revaluation of its stake in Samsung Electronics could boost its asset value. Samsung C&T rose four spots to ninth from 13th. SK Square, the largest shareholder of SK Hynix, also climbed to third from seventh.
SK Square's advance reflects expectations that its stake value will rise alongside SK Hynix's surging share price. Hyundai Motor, which has drawn attention both for its anticipated collaboration with Nvidia and as a rising name in the robotics industry, gained one spot to fourth from fifth. LG Energy Solution, the leading secondary battery stock, slipped to sixth this month from third at the end of last year, while HD Hyundai Heavy fell two places to eighth from sixth.
Samsung Biologics, previously fourth by market cap, dropped to 12th, and Hanwha Aerospace fell to 15th from eighth. Doosan Enerbility also dropped out of the top 10.
The Kosdaq market saw a similar shift over the same period, with seven of the top 10 stocks by market cap changing positions. Only Alteogen, EcoPro BM and EcoPro — ranked first through third — held their spots. Jusung Engineering, classified as a semiconductor equipment stock, rocketed 58 places to fifth this month from 63rd at the end of last year. Wonik IPS, another semiconductor equipment-related stock, posted the second-largest gain, rising 11 spots to 10th this month from 21st at the end of last year, while Lino Industrial climbed four places to seventh from 11th. HLB recorded the steepest decline among the top 10, slipping three spots to ninth from sixth.
ABL Bio, which ranked fourth, and LegaChem Biosciences, which ranked eighth at the end of last year, both fell out of the top 10 this year, dropping to 13th and 15th, respectively.
Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, said profit-taking emerged after Broadcom's earnings release, but attributed the move less to a slowdown in AI demand than to disappointment that the company's guidance upgrade fell short of elevated expectations. "The key theme this month remains not a rotation away from leading stocks but a broadening of sector rotation while those leaders hold," he said, adding that investors should look for buying opportunities in the IT sector as profit-taking sellers offer belated justifications for their exits.
dlcw@heraldcorp.com
