SeoulMarkets · tag
korean equities
11 stories tagged “korean equities”, each from official Korean data with its source and timestamp.
Samsung Life's rumor answer: not confirmed, not denied
A news report said Samsung Fire and Samsung Life were buying large UK and US insurers. Samsung Life's own DART filing says only that it is reviewing investment targets — nothing decided. It has until October 2 to say more.
Samsung SDI's US battery JV cut its guaranteed debt 45% — the same year it turned its first profit
Samsung SDI cut its guarantee on StarPlus Energy's debt from $3.85bn to $2.11bn (−45.2%), the same filing showing the Stellantis battery venture's income swing from a ₩33.7bn loss in 2024 to a ₩123.1bn profit in 2025.
Cube Entertainment's co-CEO put ₩10bn into his own company — above market
Cube Entertainment filed a ₩10bn private placement, entirely to co-CEO Kang Seung-gon, its own largest shareholder. The price, ₩6,220, is 9.7% above the day's KOSDAQ close — the opposite of the discount typically seen in insider placements.
EcoPro BM's ₩886bn raise: 100% for an unnamed acquisition
EcoPro BM's rights issue creates 9,900,990 new shares at ₩89,500 — a 16% discount to the ₩106,500 close — diluting existing holders 9.2%. All ₩886.1bn raised is filed as 'business acquisition'; no target has been separately disclosed.
HYBE's operating profit was ₩49bn. One expense line was ₩295bn.
HYBE out-earned Korea's other three listed K-pop majors combined in FY2025 revenue — but posted the only net loss among them, ₩254.4bn. The swing traces to one filed line, six times the size of operating profit, that is never itemised.
JYP's 6.75% treasury stock hasn't moved since 2018 — traced to its 2013 listing
JYP Entertainment holds 6.75% of itself in treasury, far above the other five listed K-pop agencies checked. The count hasn't changed since a 2018 cancellation, and its own 5-year rule points back to JYP's 2013 backdoor listing.
HYBE alone is two-thirds of Korea's listed K-pop value
Korea's six listed K-pop agencies have a combined market value of ₩11.56 trillion. HYBE alone is 65.6% of that, more than the other five combined. A seventh name, CJ E&M, sits in DART's registry but filed and traded nothing in over a year.
Korea's margin debt hit a record. It moved to KOSPI.
Korea's margin loan balance hit a record ₩38.6 trillion on 24 June 2026, up 50% year-on-year. KOSDAQ's share fell from 48% in 2021 to 21% today — this year's leverage moved into large-cap KOSPI, not the smaller, speculative market.
Korean firms with more women underperformed by 17 points last year. Control for industry and the gap vanishes.
Across 2,573 listed companies, staff tenure and female share both look like they predict returns — in opposite directions. They are the same fact counted twice. One survives an industry control; the other does not.
KOSPI fell 31% from its peak. It is still up 48% this year.
Korea's benchmark peaked at 9,114.55 on 22 June and closed at 6,257.45 on 3 August — down 31.3% in six weeks. But it ended 2025 at 4,214.17, so even after the drop it is up 48.5% year-to-date. Both are true at once. Not advice.
Korean banks are up 6% since the KOSPI peaked. The index is down 31% because it is 60% semiconductors.
Of 160 tradeable Korea Exchange indices, twelve have risen since 22 June. Electronics is 60.1% of KOSPI market capitalisation, fell 38.7%, and dragged the benchmark with it. Banks, pharma and staples never joined the fall.