Last Year, Only One Additional Company Joined the 'KRW 10 Trillion Market Cap Club'... Decrease When Excluding New Listings

Seoul Yeouido Korea Exchange building exterior

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Last year, the number of listed companies with a market capitalization of over 1 trillion KRW in the domestic stock market increased by only one. Excluding newly listed companies last year, the number actually decreased.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 8th, as of the end of last year, the number of listed companies (including preferred shares) with a market capitalization exceeding 1 trillion KRW was 194. This is an increase of one compared to the end of the previous year. By market, there were 168 KOSPI-listed companies, up by three, and 26 KOSDAQ-listed companies, down by two. However, excluding the five newly listed '1 trillion club' companies from last year, the number actually decreased by four.

The companies that joined the 1 trillion club through new listings last year include Hyundai AutoEver, an IT service company under Hyundai Motor Group; Lotte REITs, a real estate investment trust managed by Lotte; Zinus, an online furniture retailer; Hanwha Systems, a defense and ICT company under Hanwha Group; and EcoPro BM, a battery materials manufacturer. EcoPro BM is listed on KOSDAQ, while the other four are KOSPI-listed companies.

As of the end of last year, the market capitalizations of these listed companies were as follows: Zinus at 1.3184 trillion KRW, Hanwha Systems at 1.1409 trillion KRW, EcoPro BM at 1.0895 trillion KRW, Lotte REITs at 1.0593 trillion KRW, and Hyundai AutoEver at 1.0584 trillion KRW.

As of the end of last year, the top of the KOSPI 1 trillion club list included Samsung Electronics (333.1 trillion KRW), SK Hynix (68.5 trillion KRW), Naver (30.7 trillion KRW), Samsung Biologics (28.6 trillion KRW), and Hyundai Motor (25.7 trillion KRW). Dong-A ST (1.0048 trillion KRW) was at the bottom of the list, with Lotte Tour Development (990.6 billion KRW) and Cuckoo Homesys (969.3 billion KRW) just below.

The KOSDAQ 1 trillion club included Celltrion Healthcare (7.6 trillion KRW), HL Biopharma (4.9 trillion KRW), CJ ENM (3.5 trillion KRW), Pearl Abyss (2.4 trillion KRW), and Studio Dragon (2.3 trillion KRW), with SKC Kolon PI (1.0278 trillion KRW) at the bottom. Meanwhile, Rino Industrial (980.1 billion KRW) and GS Home Shopping (975.2 billion KRW) fell slightly short of the 1 trillion KRW mark.

The fact that the number of 1 trillion club listed companies increased by only one last year is attributed to the prolonged US-China trade war, poor corporate earnings, Japan's export restrictions, and intensified Hong Kong protests, which expanded domestic and international stock market uncertainties and led to sluggish market performance. At the end of last year, the KOSPI closed at 2,197.67, rising only 7.67% from the previous year-end, while the KOSDAQ index fell 0.9% to 669.83.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.