Trump Rewrites KOSPI Market Capitalization Rankings Again

Hanwha Aerospace Climbs to 6th in Market Capitalization
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Re-enters Top 10... Kia Drops Two Spots
Mixed Fortunes for Stocks Benefiting and Suffering from Trump's Policies

Amid market fluctuations caused by tariff risks originating from the U.S. this month, changes have also appeared in the market capitalization rankings. Stocks less affected by U.S. tariff policies saw their rankings rise, while those hit by tariffs experienced stock price declines, resulting in mixed fortunes.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 14th, on the 11th, Hanwha Aerospace surpassed Celltrion and Kia to climb to 6th place in the KOSPI market capitalization rankings. Hanwha Aerospace, which was ranked 10th at the end of last month and moved up to 8th earlier this month, continued a two-day streak of over 5% gains recently, raising its market cap ranking by two spots.

Defense stocks like Hanwha Aerospace are considered a tariff-free zone, maintaining favorable stock price trends. In particular, Hanwha Aerospace's stock gained momentum as investor sentiment improved following a reduction in the size of its rights offering. It has risen more than 16% this month. Earlier, on the 8th, Hanwha Aerospace announced it would reduce the rights offering size from the initially planned 3.6 trillion KRW to 2.3 trillion KRW. The reduced 1.3 trillion KRW is being considered to be raised through a third-party rights offering involving three companies: Hanwha Energy, Hanwha Impact Partners, and Hanwha Energy Singapore. Jeong Dong-ho, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "The change in the rights offering structure to shareholder allocation and third-party allocation reduced the issuance ratio and dilution rate, which is positive." He added, "Despite shareholder value dilution from the rights offering, considering solid earnings and the rally in European defense stocks since the beginning of the year, with global defense companies' multiples rising an average of 54% this year, we have raised the target price by 40.3% to 940,000 KRW."

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries re-entered the top 10 by climbing to 9th place in market capitalization. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was ranked 10th at the end of last year but dropped out of the top 10 after yielding its spot to Hanwha Aerospace at the end of February. Remaining at 11th place, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries rose to 9th on the 11th after its stock price increased by 5.7%, surpassing KB Financial Group and NAVER. The stock has risen 22.32% this month. Notably, on the 11th, President Trump boosted the stock price. During a cabinet meeting on the 10th (local time), Trump said, "We will rebuild the shipbuilding industry," adding, "We may need to request funding from Congress, but we could also purchase ships from other countries close to us with strong shipbuilding performance." This statement led to a rally in shipbuilding stocks that day.

On the other hand, Kia, considered a victim of Trump's tariffs, dropped two spots to 8th place in market capitalization in just one day. Kia's stock fell 7.03% on the 11th, hitting a 52-week low of 81,300 KRW during intraday trading.

Hyundai Motor, ranked 5th, is also in a precarious position. Hanwha Aerospace is rapidly closing the market cap gap and closely pursuing Hyundai Motor. Hyundai Motor closed at 177,500 KRW on the 11th, down 5.08%. It also hit a 52-week low of 175,800 KRW during intraday trading. The market cap gap between Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Motor is 1.6637 trillion KRW. The day before, on the 10th, the gap was as large as 5.43 trillion KRW. Park Kwang-rae, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., explained about Hyundai Motor, "For now, we expect downside support from a dividend yield in the 7% range and share buybacks and cancellations planned for the first half of the year, but stock price fluctuations are inevitable until tariff uncertainties are resolved." Shinhan Investment Corp. has lowered Hyundai Motor's target price from 290,000 KRW to 270,000 KRW, reflecting changes in earnings estimates.