Stocks linked to Saenuri Party leader Park Geun-hye rallied on the Korean stock market on her party’s victory in the general election, despite the broader market’s slide on Thursday.
This election, political analysts said, will shape this year’s presidential election in which Park will likely be one of the candidates.
EG, Agabang & Company and Boryung Medience were among shares related to Park that gained on Saenuri’s majority win in the National Assembly.
Shares of EG, a KOSDAQ-listed iron oxide and ferrite materials maker, ended up 7,700 won, or about 15 percent, at 59,200 won. Park’s younger brother, Ji-man, is the majority shareholder of EG with a 28.67 percent stake, according to financial statements and media reports.
Agabang closed at 13,100 won, up 1,700 won, or about 15 percent, while Boryung shares ended up 2,300 won, or 15 percent, at 17,850. Park’s pledge to devise a welfare policy to benefit people across all income brackets and ages apparently spurred the infant healthcare product makers.
AhnLab, founded by Seoul National University professor Ahn Cheol-soo, also closed up about 14,000 won, or about 15 percent, at 107,900 won. All these stocks jumped the daily limit of 15 percent imposed by the Korea Exchange. Ahn is viewed by the public as a presidential hopeful.
However, analysts cautioned against political-themed stocks, saying that some of them have overshot their market expectations, especially AhnLab, Korea’s renowned anti-virus software program developer.
They said their rallies will be short-lived, emphasizing that stocks perform based on fundamentals, and should not be politically driven.
The small-cap, KOSDAQ-listed AhnLab shares could face further volatility as its 1 trillion won market cap does not reflect its bottom line, analysts said.
AhnLab saw its net profit fall to 9.4 billion won in 2011, from 14 billion won a year ago, according to financial statements.
In the meantime, stocks overall fell 0.39 percent in the day, reportedly due to eurozone woes and geopolitical risks fueled by the imminent launch of North Korea‘s long-range rocket.
The benchmark KOSPI shed 7.78 points to close at 1,986.63. Trading volume was moderate at 385 million shares worth 4.91 trillion won ($4.23 billion), according to reports.
The local currency finished at 1,140.6 won to the greenback, down 1 won from Tuesday‘s close.
By Park Hyong-ki (
hkp@heraldcorp.com)
