Has improved sentiment spurred bull market?

Is the Kospi enjoying a bullish rally, thanks to a turnaround in momentum this year?

In the first four months of this year, 118 shares including Samsung Electronics on both the benchmark Kospi and the junior Kosdaq, hit all-time highs, the Korea Exchange said Monday.

That’s a 78 percent surge compared to the 66 shares that also reached records in the same period.

Shares that hit all-time highs account for 5.75 percent of the 2,049 shares publicly traded on the market.

The shares that hit their highest marks accounted for 4.23 percent of the 874 shares traded on the primary market or 37, while 6.89 percent or 81 shares among the 1,175 traded on the Kosdaq.

On average, shares of the 37 stocks on the Kospi surged 36.13 percent while the 81 stocks on the Kosdaq rose 14.71 percent.

This year, the Kospi rose 5.9 percent while the junior Kosdaq slid slightly 0.41 percent, through April 17.

Service companies were among the shares on the Kospi that saw the sharpest growth. On average, nine of the service industry shares on the main bourse surged 80.89 percent compared to the beginning of the year followed by six machinery shares that saw an average 20.66 percent increase and four chemical companies’ shares that rose an average 16.86 percent.

On the Kosdaq, financial shares saw the sharpest increase this year.

The average growth of the 14 financial shares was 19.6 percent followed by 11 machinery equipment shares with an average 13.03 percent and 11 semiconductors stocks (9.89 percent).

Among the companies, Anam Electronics had the biggest surge among stocks that broke records. Anam, which was worth 1,155 won per share on Jan. 2, rose 151.95 percent to close at 2,910 won, as of April 17.

The company’s shares spiked this year as investors believed it would be one of the companies that would benefit from the robust sales of Samsung Electronics’ latest smartphone Galaxy S8. Anam later in a public notification said it has no relationship with the smartphone’s sales.

Confectionary group Crown Haitai Holdings came in second as it saw its shares rise 132.64 percent from the beginning of the year to close at 34,950 won.

On the Kosdaq, Ee-Hwa Construction topped the lists after rising 102.5 percent to 6,500 won while computer security firm AhnLab ranked second on the junior market after its stock value doubled compared to the beginning of the year to 108,300 won. The company was founded by presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics hit an all-time high on March 21 when it closed at 2,128,000 won. On Monday, ,shares of the conglomerate closed at 2,062,000 won.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]