Political and Security Issues Overlap
The stock price of domestic security company 'AhnLab' showed high volatility as political and security issues overlapped, including former People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won's decision not to run for party leader and a hacking incident targeting domestic academic societies. There are also opinions that expectations toward Ahn Cheol-soo, a People Power Party lawmaker and founder of AhnLab, played a role.
AhnLab's stock price closed at 91,200 won on the 25th, up 29.91%, and as of 10:24 a.m. on the 26th, it recorded 96,000 won, continuing a 5.26% upward trend. The stock price exceeding 90,000 won is the first time in about five months since August 19 last year (91,000 won).
Ahn Cheol-soo, a candidate for the leadership of the People Power Party, is presenting his vision at the "Ahn Cheol-soo People Power Party Leader Election 170V Camp Launch Ceremony" held at the party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 18th. / Photo by Yonhap News
On the day of the opening, AhnLab's stock price started at 73,000 won and soared along with former lawmaker Na's press conference at 11 a.m. Na stated at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, "I will not run in the People Power Party leadership election," adding, "If we can return with harmony and unity, I will bravely step down."
The surge in AhnLab's stock price coinciding with Na's announcement of not running for party leader is also seen as partly due to expectations toward Ahn, the founder and largest shareholder of AhnLab.
Earlier, on the 9th, Ahn officially declared his candidacy for party leader, saying, "To secure more than half of the National Assembly seats (170 seats for the People Power Party), please choose me."
Some individual investors shared hypothetical head-to-head match-up results between People Power Party lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon and Ahn, the next party leadership candidates, on investment-related communities and social networking services (SNS).
According to a public opinion poll conducted by Embrain Republic on the 22nd and 23rd, commissioned by YTN, surveying 784 People Power Party supporters nationwide (margin of error ±3.5 percentage points at 95% confidence level), Ahn led Kim with 49.8% to 39.4% in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up. However, it remains uncertain how former lawmaker Na's recent decision not to run will affect voters' preferences, leaving many variables.
It is highly likely that political issues were not the only factors influencing AhnLab's stock price. On the 25th, the Chinese hacker group 'XiaoQiying' hacked the websites of 12 domestic academic societies, including the Korea Internet & Security Agency, changing the main page to display the phrase "Declaring intrusion into Korean internet." This raised awareness of the domestic cybersecurity environment, which could have been favorable for security companies like AhnLab.
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