Stock Prices of Battery Companies on Steep Rise
The market cap of LG Chem reached 50,826.4 billion won on Aug. 10. It is currently the fifth-largest South Korean company in terms of market capitalization. That day, the stock price of the company fell 3.49 percent to 720,000 won per share after having risen for over a week.
The rally started on July 31, when the company’s electric vehicle battery business unit announced a positive earnings surprise. On Aug. 7, the stock price jumped 9.71 percent to 746,000 won per share and the company came in third in terms of market capitalization. At present, LG Chem, Naver (51,496.5 billion won) and Samsung Biologics (51,013.2 billion won) are competing for the third place.
Much attention is being paid to whether LG Chem will be able to surpass SK Hynix, which has remained the second-largest South Korean company for a long time. With the electric vehicle battery industry emerging as a new growth engine of the South Korean economy, LG Chem catching up with SK Hynix can be a signal of change in the structure of the economy.
Samsung SDI and SK Innovation, which are in the same industry with LG Chem, are showing rallies, too. Samsung SDI’s market cap increased to 32.56 trillion won on Aug. 10 and the stock price of SK Innovation has risen 25.5 percent since the beginning of this year.