South Korea’s Biggest Companies Post 3% Rise in Market Capitalization in 2016
It was announced on Saturday that the market capitalization of South Korea's biggest conglomerates has increased by approximately 3 percent in 2016. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is reported to have led the other companies in terms of market capitalization.
The Korea Times reported that a financial information provider, FnGuide, stated that the total market value of 88 stocks related to the 10 biggest companies reached 663.92 trillion won ($590.15 billion) on closing prices on Tuesday. It increased 2.96 percent or 19.7 million won from December 30, the last trading day of 2015.
The Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, which has the largest shipbuilder in the world, had the highest increase in market cap of 49.04 percent, from 7.71 trillion won to 11.49 trillion won.
The main factor for the said rise in market cap is the company's recording of gains in the two consecutive quarters through swift restructuring, which helped boost its share price from 87,800 won to 132,500 won over the said period. The company's share price reached 145,000 won during midday trading on September 6 and set a new record for 52 consecutive weeks.
Following Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is the POSCO Group with a 31.46 percent increase in its market cap. The shares stock price of POSCO, the leading market among South Korea's steelmakers, had an estimated 35 percent increase from 166,500 won to 224,000 won. It leads the entire group's total market value from 18.16 trillion won to 23.88 trillion won.
The SK Group and the Samsung Group ranked third and fourth, respectively. SK Group had a growth rate of 6.43 percent while Samsung Group had 6.16 percent.
LG Group and the Lotte Group, on the other hand, posted a double-digit decrease to their market caps with 10.41 percent and 10.25 percent, respectively.
The market capitalization of LG Group saw a significant decrease due to the poor performance of the company's major affiliates while one of the contributors to the decline of Lotte Group's market cap is the market value plunge of its food and beverage subsidiaries.
