In Korea's stock market, buying of so-called "patriotic theme stocks" continues, while price movements by stock are sharply divided. Some stocks hit the daily upper limit, while others that had surged earlier are seeing heavy profit-taking and steep declines.
As of 9:56 a.m. on the 20th, JOOYONTECH(044380) jumped to the price limit in the Korea Exchange main board, trading at 1,352 won, up 312 won (30.00%) from the previous session.
SONOKONG also rose 530 won (23.19%) to 2,815 won.
These stocks have recently been introduced on online communities as "domestic brands" and "long-standing corporations," drawing attention as so-called patriotic theme stocks. The move is seen as stemming from individual investors' push to buy companies at risk of delisting as the market cap requirement for maintaining a KOSPI listing is set to be raised starting next year.
By contrast, some stocks that had previously surged as patriotic theme names plunged on the day.
At the same time, Enex(011090) fell 660 won (23.96%) to 2,095 won, and Good People dropped 104 won (19.62%) to 426 won. Hyungji Elite (-25.58%), Hyungji Global (-23.63%), and Hyungji I&C (-20.59%) also showed sharp weakness.
Hansung Enterprise, considered the origin of patriotic theme stocks, is also down 6.82%.
In the market, some noted that volatility warrants caution because prices are moving on supply-demand rather than corporate earnings or business competitiveness. There is analysis that if investor sentiment shifts to another theme or profit-taking concentrates, prices could reverse sharply.
In particular, beginning in January next year, KOSPI's market cap requirement to maintain a listing will be strengthened to 50 billion won and KOSDAQ's to 30 billion won, and there is also an outlook that, in the long term, without support from improvements in corporate value, it will be hard to sustain a price uptrend.