38% of Domestic Listed Companies Hit New Lows Last Month Amid COVID-19 Fear

881 Domestic Listed Companies Hit New Lows... 15 Times More Than Last Month

KOSPI Intraday Index Volatility Highest in 1 Year and 4 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] As fears over the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) continue to weigh on the domestic stock market, the number of stocks hitting 52-week lows last month surged to about 15 times that of the previous month.

On the 3rd, employees are working in the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

According to the Korea Exchange on the 4th, the number of stocks that recorded 52-week lows last month reached a total of 881, with 480 in the KOSPI market and 401 in the KOSDAQ market. As of the end of last month, there were a total of 2,320 listed stocks on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ combined, meaning that 37.97% of them set new lows last month.

The number of stocks hitting new lows last month was about 15 times that of the previous month (57 stocks). It also exceeded nine times compared to the same month last year (94 stocks).

This is believed to be due to concerns that COVID-19 would deliver a severe shock to the economy, causing a wave of stocks to plunge amid fears of poor earnings performance.

Last month, the KOSPI fell 6.23% due to the COVID-19 impact, marking the largest decline since May last year (-7.34%). The KOSDAQ index also dropped 31.75 points (-4.94%) over the month.

Among the stocks that recorded new lows last month, 42 belonged to the "Other Financials" sector on the exchange, including Woori Financial Group, Meritz Financial Group, and Hana Financial Group, making it the largest group. In the financial support services sector, 25 stocks including Daishin Securities and Eugene Investment & Securities also hit new lows.

Following the Lime Asset Management fund redemption crisis, the COVID-19 outbreak added to the negative factors, causing the financial sector's stock prices to show extremely weak performance last month.

Additionally, as the stock market experienced a "rollercoaster" trend, the intraday volatility of the KOSPI index reached its highest level in 1 year and 4 months. According to the exchange, the average intraday volatility of the KOSPI last month was 1.52%, far exceeding the average intraday volatility of 0.94% for the entire last year. This is the highest level since October 2018 (1.60%).

Intraday volatility is calculated by dividing the difference between the day's high and low index values by the average of the high and low values, showing how much the index moved up and down relative to the day's average.

The KOSDAQ index's average intraday volatility last month was 1.45%, surpassing the average intraday volatility of 1.31% for the entire last year. However, this was slightly lower than the previous month (1.48%).

Trading volume in the stock market also increased significantly. The average daily trading value in the KOSPI market last month was 7.6 trillion won, the highest since May 2018 (9.1 trillion won). The average daily trading value in the KOSDAQ market was 6.6 trillion won, the largest scale in 25 months since January 2018 (8.7 trillion won).

Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Pandemic fears have spread from China and Korea to Europe and the United States, increasing volatility in the financial markets," adding, "Fear is fueling supply-demand instability, creating a vicious cycle."

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