The stock valuation in the National Pension Service (NPS) portfolio came to a combined 155.9 trillion won ($112 billion) in the April to June period, up 9.3 trillion won from the previous quarter, data showed Wednesday.
Underpinning the stellar figures were strong earnings of the country’s IT manufacturing powerhouses including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
The two global chipmakers’ combined 5.1 trillion won in valuation increase more than eclipsed the plunging of once-hyped rechargeable batteries and the smaller IT players.
Data from FnGuide, a financial data service provider, showed the NPS had at least 5 percent stakes in each of 283 listed firms as of Monday.
The combined holdings of nearly 156 trillion won is up from 146.6 trillion won in valuation in 276 listed firms in the January to March period.
SK hynix and Samsung Electronics registered a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.9 trillion won and 2.2 trillion won, respectively.
SK hynix’s share price spiked over 27 percent and Samsung Electronics more than 6 percent.
NPS stakes in the two stood at 7.9 percent and 7.68 percent, respectively.
Hyundai Motor, KB Financial Group and Kia, Hyundai’s sister firm, saw their stock valuations surge 831.5 billion won, 577.7 billion won and 403.8 billion won, respectively.
Meanwhile, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and LG Chem, the three leading battery manufacturers, suffered a 493.9 billion won, 485.3 billion won and 407.8 billion won drop in stock valuations, respectively.
Internet businesses, including 커뮤니티 Kakao and Naver, incurred decreases in their stock valuations of 272.1 billion won and 225.9 billion won, respectively.
Among 19 firms with at least 5 percent NPS stakes added to the list of the pension fund’s stock portfolio were HD Hyundai Marine Solution, APR and Tonymoly. The latter two are cosmetics manufacturers.
Twelve firms removed from the list due to lower than 5 percent NPS stakes included Hyundai Home Shopping Network Corp., SPC Samlip and HMM