**Termination of Exclusive Contracts Causes Decline**
**Likelihood of Prolonged Legal Battles Increases**
**Samsung Electronics Recovers ‘50,000 Electronics’**
**Market Shaken by Martial Law Declaration**
Last week, stocks such as Samsung Electronics, HYBE, SK Hynix, Alteogen, and Korean Air captured the attention of investors. In terms of keyword search rankings, semiconductors, the industry of greatest interest to domestic investors, ranked first, followed by ‘martial law,’ which shook the domestic stock market. According to report rankings, JYP Entertainment, which has shown a noticeable upward trend this month, had the top-ranking report, while SK Hynix, the most spotlighted in the semiconductor sector, was second.
According to the financial information provider FnGuide, the most searched stock by investors from the 28th of last month to December 4th was Samsung Electronics. Despite recovering the “50,000 electronics” on November 15th, Samsung Electronics failed to end on a positive note for six consecutive trading days, dropping to the low 50,000 won range by December 4th. Due to negative stock performance in the second half of the year, it has also been excluded from the tracked portfolios of more than seven domestic exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this year.
During the same period, HYBE, embroiled in controversy surrounding the girl group NewJeans, ranked second in stock search. On November 29th, the day after NewJeans announced the termination of their exclusive contract with their agency, ADOR, HYBE’s parent company saw its stock price drop by 4.08% to below 200,000 won. NewJeans claimed at a press conference that they would terminate their exclusive contract with ADOR starting that day, alleging unfair treatment from both ADOR and HYBE, while also claiming imitation of their concept by a girl group under HYBE’s label. ADOR responded, stating, “We have faithfully fulfilled key contract obligations related to entertainment activities, such as booking, negotiation, support, receipt of compensation, and provision of settlement data,” adding that “the exclusive contract is valid until July 31, 2029.”
The third most-searched stock was SK Hynix. On November 27th, Hynix announced new shareholder return policies and plans to enhance corporate value for 2025-2027. While maintaining the existing policy of allocating 50% of cumulative free cash flow (FCF) as shareholder return funds, they announced plans to increase the fixed annual dividend per share from 1,200 won to 1,500 won by 25%. Despite this, the market reacted coldly, with a decline exceeding 4% on November 28th and continued sluggishness dropping the stock to the 150,000 won range. However, it rebounded after two consecutive trading days of closing on a rise and recovered to the 160,000 won range starting December 3rd.
The top-ranked report was from Hana Securities about JYP Entertainment, evaluated by researcher Kihoon Lee as the most undervalued agency, with a target stock price raised from 78,000 won to 94,000 won. Lee noted in the report that “even though the stock price has increased by 37% just two weeks after the third-quarter earnings announcement, it still astonishingly remains the most undervalued agency.”
In keyword search rankings, ‘martial law’ newly entered at the second rank. On the 3rd, the martial law declaration and lift incidents by President Yoon Suk-yeol shook the market. Although financial authorities announced an all-out response for market stability and received a better-than-feared report card, the domestic stock market as a whole experienced adjustments. On that day, the KOSPI fell by 1.44% compared to the previous day, with the decline once widening to 2.31% in the morning but fluctuating between 1-2% as it absorbed overnight shocks.
[Reporter Kim Jung-seok]