Last month, 8 of the top 10 listed stocks in the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the KOSDAQ were identified as political theme stocks. The rapid fluctuation of political theme stocks is expected to continue for the time being, indicating that investors need to exercise special caution.
According to the Korea Exchange on the 2nd, during the month of April, 8 of the top 10 stocks that saw the highest price increases were political theme stocks, except for Inventage Lab and CBI. In particular, the top 4 stocks were tallied as being related to Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea.
Sangji Construction, which rose as a theme stock due to a former outside director's involvement in Lee Jae-myung's campaign during the previous presidential election, topped the revenue increase rate. Last month, its stock price surged from 3,400 won to 31,000 won, marking an 811.76% increase.
Additionally, 4BY4 (244.87%), SAMRYOONG (210.24%), and Ercos (191.38%) recorded significant increases last month by leveraging the policy themes of Lee Jae-myung. These stocks were noted as beneficiaries related to artificial intelligence policy, anti-plastic policy, and low birth rate policy.
Theme stocks related to Han Duck-soo, the former Prime Minister, also made it onto the list of high revenue rate stocks. SIGONG TECH, which became a theme stock due to Park Gi-seok's association with Han as a civilian member of the National Economic Advisory Council, saw its stock price increase by over 119% last month.
The rapid fluctuations of political theme stocks are expected to persist for the time being. Particularly, following the Supreme Court's ruling concerning Lee Jae-myung, political theme stocks associated with him reversed to a weaker trend. On that day, Sangji Construction saw its stock price decline by over 17%.
Financial authorities continue to issue investment warnings. The Financial Supervisory Service analyzed that political theme stocks exhibited volatile price fluctuations during the 19th presidential election in 2017, returning to their original levels around the election date, and stated that, once again, the investment risk is extremely high.
Meanwhile, in the bottom rankings for stock revenue rates last month were Bridge Biotherapeutics (-88.54%), IM (-56.15%), and OliPass (-46.83%). Bridge Biotherapeutics recorded the lower price limit for five consecutive trading days due to the failure to prove the efficacy of its new drug in phase 2 clinical trials.