Trillion-won-market-cap club grows by 32

The number of Korea's listed firms with a market capitalization of 1 trillion won ($875 million) or more rose by more than 30 in the second quarter amid a stock market rally, a corporate tracker said Thursday.

A total of 274 listed companies were worth 1 trillion won or more as of end-June, up 32 from three months earlier, according to a survey of 2,357 corporations by CXO Institute.

The total market capitalization of the companies came to 2,604 trillion won as of the end of June, up 8 percent from the end of March.

Internet portal giant Kakao posted the largest market-cap increase, of 28 trillion won, over the cited period, with its capitalization reaching 72 trillion won as of end-June.

Other big gainers include SK Innovation (7.1 trillion won), Kakao's bigger rival Naver (6.7 trillion won) and Samsung Biologics (6.2 trillion won).

Celltrion was the biggest loser, at 6.8 trillion won, followed by Samsung Electronics (4.2 trillion won) and SK hynix (3.6 trillion won).

As of end-June, Samsung Electronics had the largest market capitalization, of 482 trillion won, trailed by SK hynix, at 93 trillion won, Kakao, at 72 trillion won, Naver, at 69 trillion won, and LG Chem, at 60 trillion won.

Yonhap