Shares of Samsung Electronics Co. that have been flying high are faced with an unexpected hurdle as South Korea’s sole stock exchange operator is mulling applying its new rule to prevent a certain stock from taking up more than 30 percent in an index whenever necessary.

The Korea Exchange (KRX) in June last year introduced a new cap rule to prevent the Kospi 200 index, the index of the nation’s top 200 equities, from being weighted too heavily on a certain stock. If a company’s average market value exceeds 30 percent in an index during a preset period of March to May or September to November, some funds tracking the index are required to scale down their investment in the company in June and December, respectively.

But the stock exchange operator said Tuesday that it is considering adjusting the weighting on an ad hoc basis, even if it is not in June or December, if a certain stock’s share in the index goes too high.

Market experts warned that the country’s bellwether Samsung Electronics shares could be the first victim of the cap rule as its share in the Kospi 200 index shot up to 33.51 percent as of Monday from 28.74 percent on average in September last year amid stock rallies. The company could barely avoid the rule in December last year because its value in the index from September to November fell slightly below the 30 percent mark to 29.69 percent.

If the KRX applies the 30-percent cap rule to Samsung Electronics stocks before June, it could trigger a massive sell-off of its stocks, market analysts warned.

Shares of Samsung Electronics have been running high recently to reach an all-time high of 62,400 won on Monday. They finished Wednesday up 1.47 percent from the previous session at 62,300 won.

Market analysts expect the company stocks would go higher on growing expectations for the recovery in the global chip demand.

By Ahn Gab-seong and Choi Mira

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