Samsung shares become more volatile this year

Shares of tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. have become more volatile this year due to a string of negatives including the recent furor over its latest flagship smartphone, data showed Wednesday.

Samsung, the top cap and crown jewel of the local bourse, has seen its share price jump or drop more than 4 percent from the previous session seven times this year, four of them involving the Galaxy Note 7 episode, according to the data by the Korea Exchange. 

Samsung recorded a daily volatility of more than 4 percent four times in 2014, six times in 2014 and four times in 2015. 

Samsung shares tumbled 8.04 percent from the prior session to close at 1,545,000 won ($1,373.3) on the Seoul bourse Tuesday on news that it has decided to suspend the production of the Galaxy Note 7 due to its battery-fire problem, just 70 days after its launch.

It marked the largest daily drop since Samsung nose-dived 13.8 percent on Oct. 24, 2008, in the thick of the global financial crisis.

As the fallout from the battery problem spread, Samsung shares plunged 6.98 percent on Sept. 12 from the previous session, sending the benchmark stock index KOSPI 2.28 percent lower.

Two days later, Samsung rallied 4.23 percent after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the only son of its ailing chairman, was nominated to join its board of directors.

On Oct. 6, Samsung shares jumped 4.45 percent as US hedge fund Elliott Management urged the tech giant to split itself into holding and operating firms and pay a special dividend. Samsung shares soared 4.7 percent on Aug. 18, the eve of the Galaxy Note 7's launch.

Analysts say Samsung's decision to halt production of the Galaxy Note 7 has tarnished Samsung's image and is widely feared to have a negative impact on its other consumer electronics products.  (Yonhap)