COVID-19 Risk... Initech, KG Inicis, and Other Electronic Payment Stocks Rally

NHN Korea Cyber Payment, KG Inicis, and Others Hit 52-Week Highs Since COVID-19
Initech Also Records 3-Month High, Showing Strength
Indoor Life Extended Due to COVID-19... Increase in First-Time Online Purchases

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) rapidly spreads, stocks related to electronic payment (PG) are showing strong performance.

According to the Korea Exchange, electronic payment-related stocks such as NHN Korea Cyber Payment and KG Inicis have all reached 52-week highs since COVID-19. NHN Cyber Payment recorded 32,550 KRW on the 24th and has maintained a price in the low 30,000 KRW range. KG Inicis also recorded a 52-week high of 21,900 KRW on the 21st and is currently trading in the 21,000 KRW range.

Along with this, Initech, the major shareholder of electronic payment company Smartro, is also showing strength. It recorded a three-month high of 5,970 KRW on the 20th and is currently at 5,470 KRW. Initech is a KT-affiliated domestic financial security company, and its consolidated subsidiary Smartro has rapidly grown to the extent that 60% of the company's sales come from the electronic payment sector.

In fact, Smartro's payment amount within China's WeChat Pay exceeded 1 trillion KRW last year. On December 30th of last year, it also received an investment of about 38 billion KRW from a subsidiary of China's state-owned monopoly card company, UnionPay.

Meanwhile, the industry expects the proportion of online purchases to increase further in the future. An industry official said, "According to an analysis of personal credit card payment amounts from eight major card companies on the 21st, online payment amounts for the week from the 28th of last month to the 3rd of this month reached 2.5087 trillion KRW, a sharp increase of 44.5% compared to the same period last year (1.7367 trillion KRW)," adding, "Customers who previously only used offline stores are newly purchasing online due to the COVID-19 issue and will establish themselves as new customers."

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