Holders of some ‘theme stocks’ pin hopes on electoral euphoria  

The news of Moon Jae-in’s election victory is jolting the stock market, too.

Some stocks that are related, if indirectly, to the new president are emerging as new “theme stocks” – stocks whose prices surge abruptly because of a particular event, or “theme” – amid sharply risen investor attention, analysts said Wednesday. Among pharmaceutical firms related to Moon are Wooridul Pharmaceutical우리들제약, Daewon Pharm대원제약, and Meta Biomed메타바이오메드.

Wooridul Pharmaceutical denied the relationship with President Moon through a public notice issued by Wooridul Huebrain우리들휴브레인 in March, but the company’s stock prices have fluctuated by Moon’s ups and downs since 2012. CEO Lee Sang-ho이상호 once worked as the doctor for late President Roh Moo-hyun, and the law firm “Busan,” launched by Moon when he was a lawyer, served as the legal advisor to the pharmaceutical company, all of which explain why Wooridul is called the “Moon Jae-in theme stock.”

Its stock price was 13,100 won ($11) per share at Wednesday noon, a drastic increase of 96 percent from 6,680 won on Jan. 4, 2016 when Moon began to be referred to as a presidential candidate. But the current price marked a drop of 25 percent from the peak of 17,550 won on Jan. 2, 2017.

Daewon Pharm became a theme stock linked to Moon in January when the then presidential candidate visited the company after designating it as one of the “good job creators.” Its stock price is 23,350 won, up 24.5 percent from 18,750 won on Jan. 19, 2017, immediately before the visit.

Meta Biomed that sells dental materials is another “Moon stock” resulting from the president’s visit to it during electioneering. Candidate Moon visited the company’s production facility in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, in April. Its stock price is 4,105 won, down 6 percent from 4,375 won on April 7, 2017, before Moon visited it.

“Because investments in theme stocks are made with no relationship to these companies’ performances, investors have no other options but to buy them before they become topics and sell them when prices are still high,” an analyst said. “I don’t recommend people make it a primary basis of judgment in investing.”

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