Top 10 KOSPI Market Cap Stocks Account for 48% of Total... Highest Since 2005

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The top 10 companies by market capitalization (excluding preferred stocks) in the domestic KOSPI market account for nearly half of the total market cap, reaching the highest level since 2005.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 6th, as of the 4th, the top 10 companies accounted for 48.0% of the total KOSPI market capitalization.

The combined market cap of the top 10 companies, from Samsung Electronics at number 1 to Kia Motors at number 10, was 865.2 trillion KRW, approaching half of the total market cap of 1,802.3 trillion KRW.

On a daily basis, the top 10 companies' share reaching 48% since 2005 is the second time, following March 24th (48.6%) during the panic market caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The share of the top 10 companies increased by 5.7 percentage points compared to the end of last year (42.1%) and rose 12.5 percentage points compared to the end of 2018 (35.5%).

This is interpreted as a result of concentrated buying by foreign investors focusing on the top market cap companies recently.

From November until the 4th, foreign investors' net purchases in the KOSPI market amounted to 6.5 trillion KRW, mostly concentrated on the top market cap companies.

During this period, foreign investors bought 1.7 trillion KRW worth of Samsung Electronics, 1.2 trillion KRW of SK Hynix, and 1.7 trillion KRW of LG Chem, respectively.

Hyundai Motor and Samsung SDI also saw net purchases of 120 billion KRW and 320 billion KRW respectively, with the total foreign net purchases of the top 10 companies reaching 5.8 trillion KRW.

Thanks to this, many stocks hit new highs. Samsung Electronics closed at 71,500 KRW on the 4th, opening the "70,000 KRW era," and SK Hynix closed at 115,000 KRW, also reaching a new peak.

LG Chem closed at 846,000 KRW on the 3rd, setting a new high, and Celltrion soared to 380,000 KRW for the first time ever, eyeing the 400,000 KRW mark.

Samsung SDI surpassed 550,000 KRW for the first time on the 24th of last month, closing at 552,000 KRW, and Hyundai Motor rose to 196,500 KRW, approaching the 200,000 KRW mark for the first time in over six years since September 2014.