Mobility firms, banks replace battery, K-culture stocks in KEDI 30 Index

Mobility, financial services and biotech companies have elbowed out battery and entertainment stocks in the KEDI Innovator ESG 30 Index in an annual reshuffle, with 13 companies making it onto the index tracked by exchange-traded funds.

Kia Corp. and Hyundai Mobis Co. gained entry to the index, while their sister company Hyundai Motor Co. climbed to second from fourth among the 30 constituents of the index. New entrants also include Hanwha Aerospace Co., a defense company and Altogen Inc., a Kosdaq-listed biotech firm.

In contrast, battery and their materials makers such as POSCO Future M Co., EcoPro BM Co., and Samsung SDS Co. will drop out from Sept. 13 amid a slowdown in electric vehicle demand.

HYBE Co., the company behind global sensation boy band BTS, JYP Entertainment Corp. and Studio Dragon Corp., a Korean drama powerhouse, will also drop from the list after delivering poorer-than-expected results in the first half of this year.

The KEDI Innovator ESG 30 Index is based on the environmental, social and governance assessment model, jointly developed by The Korea Economic Daily, Yonsei University School of Business and IBS Consulting Company.

The Korea Economic Daily and global market research firm Ipsos Group jointly surveyed chief executives of 100 leading Korean companies and another 30 CEOs of financial services companies in South Korea to select the country’s top 30 innovative companies for 2024.

Constituents of the 2024 KEDI Innovator ESG 30 Index
1	Samsung Electronics Co.
2	Hyundai Motor Co.
3	SK Hynix Inc.
4	Naver Corp.
5	LG Energy Solution Ltd.
6	Samsung Biologics Co.
7	LG Electronics Inc.
8	Kia Corp.*
9	Hanwha Aerospace Co.*
10	Celltrion
11	KakaoBank Corp.
12	POSCO Holdings Co.
13	SK Telecom Co.*
14	Samsung SDI
15	Alteogen Inc.*
16	LG Innotek Co.
17	Krafton Inc.
18	Hyundai Mobis Co.*
19	Shinhan Financial Group*
20	KB Financial Group*
21	Yuhan Corp.
22	Samsung Electric-Mechanics Co.*
23	Classys Inc.
24	SK Biopharmaceuticals Co.
25	LS Electric Co.*
26	Hana Financial Group*
27	Meritz Financial Group*
28	Leeno Industrial Inc.*
29	Hanmi Pharm Co.
30	Mirae Asset Securities Co.*
* New entrants

MOBILITY STOCKS

The survey was conducted after global rating agency S&P upgraded Hyundai and Kia to A- from BBB+. After the ratings move, the two automakers under Hyundai Motor Group were classified as A-rated stocks by three global rating agencies, including Moody’s and Fitch.

Shinhan Financial Group, KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Meritz Financial Group and Mirae Asset Group joined the index after they posted handsome profits thanks to wider interest margins. The share prices of KB Financial and Shinhan Financial have shot up over 40% and 30% so far this year, respectively.

Hanwha Aerospace has been on a roll on the back of a string of export orders of its K9 self-propelled howitzers.

Altogen jumped to the top of Kosdaq-listed companies in terms of market capitalization on Aug. 27.

It has licensed its proprietary “ALT-B4” technology that enables the large volume subcutaneous administration of drugs that are typically administered as an IV infusion to three global pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Sandoz in deals worth over 7 trillion won in aggregate.

Samsung Electronics Co. has retained its No. 1 title for a fourth straight year.

The KEDI Innovator ESG30 Index has been tracked by the Tiger KEDI Innovator ESG 30, an exchange-traded fund launched by Mirae Asset Securities in 2022.

The ETF has gained 12.49% as of Sept. 11 since Aug. 5, outperforming the Kospi index's gain of 5.35% over the same period.

Dropouts from the KEDI Innovator ESG 30 index include LG Chem Ltd., Kakao Corp., SK Innovation Co., Doosan Enerbility Co., Korea Investment Holdings Co., semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker HPSP Co. and cancer diagnostics AI developer Lunit Inc.

In a question about which technologies and factors the surveyed CEOs prioritized for innovation in management, high on the list were AI (68.9%), big data (53.3%), IT (49.4%), environmental friendliness (41.7%) and robotics (33.9%).

Write to Man-Su Choi and Byeong-Hun Yang at bebop@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.