KOSPI and KOSDAQ Volatility... Stocks Hit by 'Negative Factors' Are 'Trapped in Hell'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] As volatility in the domestic stock market intensifies, individual stocks are showing a tendency to react more sensitively to negative news. Regardless of size, any bad news causes a sharp drop in stock prices. Even when the securities industry evaluates the decline as excessive, recovery is not easy. Despite companies actively issuing explanatory materials to manage the situation, the stock price recovery remains distant, leaving individual investors disappointed.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 30th, Wemade's stock price closed at 116,400 KRW on the 28th, down 8.06%. During the trading session, it plunged more than 12% at one point. The sharp decline was due to news of an incident where 52 million KUSDT (approximately 60 billion KRW) of dollar-pegged stablecoins deposited in the DeFi service "Clever" were withdrawn. DeFi refers to decentralized financial services where cryptocurrencies are deposited and interest is earned.

On the day of the incident, the 27th, investors raised suspicions of hacking, and as soon as the market opened on the 28th, Wemade's stock price started to fall sharply. As the stock price fluctuated, the company immediately issued an official press release to calm shareholders.

Wemade stated, "The Clever team conducted an update test at 7:28 PM on the 27th to prepare the farming function, during which an error occurred that caused excessive interest to be paid on some deposited assets." They added, "Upon detecting the error, the Clever team took immediate measures to restrict withdrawals and prevent further damage, and initiated an investigation and response to recover the overpaid interest from two accounts."

The company emphasized that it has currently recovered 99.41% of the funds and expects to complete 100% recovery, including transaction costs incurred during the recovery process.

Nevertheless, the downward trend in the stock price did not stop. There were concerns about potential issues with Wemade's blockchain technology, but it is interpreted that individual investors continued anxious selling due to recent increased market volatility. With the sharp declines in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices and the clear volatile market conditions, investor sentiment has rapidly frozen.

The fact that the incident occurred after the large-scale sell-off of WEMIX also negatively affected investor sentiment. It was revealed to investors on the 11th that Wemade sold 50 million of its own cryptocurrency WEMIX without prior notice over a certain period.

The stock price of HDC Hyundai Development Company, responsible for the Gwangju apartment collapse accident, has also repeatedly plunged sharply, with recovery appearing distant. Since the accident, the stock has fallen about 45% in a continuous downward trend. The National Pension Service is also selling HDC Hyundai Development Company shares, reducing its stake, further worsening investor sentiment.

As of the 18th, the National Pension Service held 6,414,813 shares (9.73% stake) of HDC Hyundai Development Company. This is a decrease of 1,277,513 shares from 7,692,326 shares (11.67%) at the end of last year. According to disclosures, from January 4 to 18 (based on settlement dates), the National Pension Service bought 444,345 shares on the market and sold 1,721,858 shares. The number of shares sold exceeded those purchased.

Due to the difficulty in gauging the impact of the negative news, even securities firms have been unable to provide investment opinions. However, they emphasize that the stock price is undervalued. According to FnGuide, as of the previous day, the stock with the highest target price deviation rate was HDC Hyundai Development Company. The deviation rate represents the percentage difference between the average target prices suggested by securities analysts and the current stock price. The average target price for HDC Hyundai Development Company is 36,269 KRW.

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