KOSDAQ jumps on government’s fintech pledge

South Korea’s secondary KOSDAQ bourse continued its strong rally in January as the government’s push to support financial technology fueled upward momentum, data showed Sunday.

The price index of the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market closed at 589.31 point on Friday, the highest close in 6 1/2 years since it hit 590.19 on June 30, 2008, according to the data compiled by the Korea Stock Exchange, the bourse operator.

It also gained 46.34 points, or 8.53 percent, from the year-end close price of 542.97, with only four trading days closing in the red out of 16 sessions throughout January.

The benchmark KOSPI, on the other hand, rose a mere 1.07 percent over the same period.

With the market in bullish mode, 748 KOSDAQ listed firms, or 70.3 percent out of 1,064, saw their prices go up, with 537 companies, or 50.5 percent, jumping more than 5 percent.

Experts say that KOSDAQ’s robust performance comes as expectations for the government’s strong policy push to support financial technology have fanned investor sentiment amid the lukewarm KOSPI tendency.

The Seoul government is looking to boost the country’s flagging financial industry through information technology in financial services, or fintech.

A subindex measuring stocks of tech services soared 17.13 percent through January, with an index of venture firms leaping 12.93 percent.

Top-cap Daum Kakao Corp. led the rally, as its stock surged 26.05 percent over the cited period. Daum Kakao, which runs the biggest mobile chat app KakaoTalk, launched Kakao Pay and BankWallet Kakao late last year, services that allow users to pay and transmit cash through its messenger platform.

“KOSDAQ has attracted investors interest as a prospect niche market,” said Lim Noh-jung, an analyst at I’M Investment & Securities.

“But we have to watch it for a while as it needs a boost from the main KOSPI in the end.” (Yonhap)