SK Hynix Tops 3 Million Won in Premarket Trading

SK Hynix shares briefly rose above 3 million won in premarket trading.

As of 8:08 a.m. on June 23, the stock was trading at 2.991 million won on Nextrade's NXT premarket, up 2.47% from the previous session. It traded as high as 3.002 million won earlier in the session.

Based on the previous day's close, SK Hynix's market capitalization stood at about 2,080 trillion won, surpassing Samsung Electronics' roughly 2,066 trillion won to become the most valuable company on South Korea's stock market. It marked the first time Samsung had ceded the top spot by market value since November 1999, ending a run of about 25 years and seven months.

Brokerages have pointed to a structural improvement in SK Hynix's profitability and raised their price targets. Park Jun-young, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities, wrote that SK Hynix is no longer a company marked by extreme earnings volatility, but one that is evolving into a business capable of generating consistently high profit. He set a target price of 4.3 million won.

Kim Yeon-ji, Hankyung.com reporter kongzi@hankyung.com