Four out of ten Kospi stocks value less than 10 years ago, with retreat most heavy in shipbuilding, heavy industries, construction, and insurance.

According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, 280 or 36.9 percent of 758 Kospi members were performing worse than their finish on Sept. 14, 2012.

Out of 1,607 companies trading on the Kospi and the Kosdaq, 601, or 37.4 percent, yielded no better than a decade ago.

Kospi was boxed at 1,800~2,100 range from 2011 to 2016.

Kospi ended at 2,411.42 last Wednesday, 1.2 times up from 2,007.58 in 2012. During the same period, the U.S. S&P 500 Index rose 2.7 times to 3,946.01 from 1,465.77.

The sectors of shipbuilding, heavy industries, construction, and insurance suffered the biggest loss mainly because they are sensitive to industrial cycles. They fell behind in the market led by the IT sector.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) lost 85 percent to 18,950 won ($13.67) from 126,000 won and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) 61 percent down to 86,400 won from 222,108 won. Samsung Heavy Industries retreated 80 percent to 5,590 won from 27,328 won. Samsung Engineering declined 83 percent, with Hyundai Doosan Infracore down 66 percent.

In the insurance sector, Hanwha life lost 66 percent to 2,385 won, with Samsung Life 33 percent down to 64,900 won.

“Shipbuilding, heavy industries, and construction are closely related to the Chinese economy. The Chinese stock market surged in 2015 after the Shanghai-Hong Kong cross-border trading was allowed. After the bubble was removed in 2010, the Shanghai Index rose only 1.5 times,” said Kim Hak-kyun, senior researcher at Shinyoung Securities.

Five of the top ten firms by market cap ten years ago lost their value. Hyundai Motor was down 15 percent, with POSCO down 35 percent, Hyundai Mobis down 30 percent, Samsung Life down 33 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group down 2 percent.

Of the past top 10 market-cap stocks, Samsung Electronics’ common and preferred shares performed the best, each surging 118 percent and 236 percent, respectively, over the last decade. LG Chem also more than doubled while Kia inched up 9 percent.

The best performers of the current top 10 market cap stocks were SK hynix and Samsung SDI, surging 326 percent and 316 percent, respectively.

By Park Yoon-ye and Jenny Lee

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]