In early trading on the 25th, securities shares are broadly higher. The rebound in the KOSPI is seen as boosting expectations for a pickup in stock market transactions and a recovery in investor sentiment.
As of 9:45 a.m., Kiwoom Securities was trading at 345,000 won on the main board, up 31,000 won (9.87%) from the previous session. Korea Investment Holdings (8.07%), Samsung Securities (7.44%), Mirae Asset Securities (6.59%) and NH Investment & Securities (5.91%) were also gaining.
The KOSPI opened at 8,703.42, up 232.40 points (2.74%) from the previous session, and reclaimed the 8,900 level early in the session. With even a KOSPI buy-sidecar triggered and investor sentiment improving quickly, buying also appeared to flow into securities shares.
However, securities shares have lagged relatively despite the recent market rally. They rose sharply with the market's climb earlier this year, but they corrected for nearly two months after May as the growth in transaction value slowed and worries mounted about a peak-out in earnings.
Ahn Young-jun, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said, "This correction reflects concerns that first-quarter transaction value and earnings have peaked," adding, "As the market capitalization has grown, transaction value increased, but the turnover rate has not risen any further since January this year." He added, "A slowdown in turnover means the inflow of new investors is not as active as before."
Even so, the medium- to long-term view on the securities industry remained positive. Ahn said, "Globally, with the expansion of the retail investment market and rising demand from companies for capital raising, the business scope of securities firms is structurally expanding," adding, "In addition to brokerage, growth in wealth management (WM) and investment banking (IB) is pushing the industry into a different growth phase than in the past."