Seoul, May 3 (IANS) The number of South Korean-listed companies whose market capitalisation surpassed 1 trillion won ($679.7 million) exceeded 400 for the first time this year, following a dramatic pre-Middle East-conflict recovery in the stock market, data showed on Sunday.

The number of companies listed on the local bourse, including preferred shares, with a market capitalisation of over 1 trillion won stood at 405 as of Wednesday, according to the data from the Korea Exchange, South Korea’s main bourse operator.

By market, 267 were listed on the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), 137 were from the tech-heavy KOSDAQ and one from KONEX, the local exchange for small and medium-sized enterprises and venture firms, reports Yonhap news agency.

Of these, 79 firms had a market capitalisation of over 10 trillion won.

This marks a dramatic turnaround compared to Feb 27, just before the U.S. and Israel initiated strikes on Iran. At that time the number of companies with over 1 trillion won in market capitalisation stood at 377.

South Korea’s stock market has been on a bullish run recently on a revived artificial intelligence (AI) rally ahead of the corporate earnings season.

After falling as low as 12 percent in a single session since the onset of the war, the benchmark KOSPI closed at 6,690.9 points on Wednesday, the highest on-record.

Meanwhile, South Korea is participating in a US conference on ship and offshore technologies taking place this week, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said on Sunday.

KOTRA and the industry ministry are set to open a booth at the Offshore Technology Conference 2026 (OTC) held in Houston, Texas, from Monday to Thursday, where they plan to introduce 12 domestic companies in the ship-related technology sector, the trade organization said.

The OTC is an annual global conference on offshore technology and energy. This year’s event is expected to bring together some 1,300 companies from over 100 nations, as well as more than 30,000 participants, the agency said.

—IANS

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