The rebellion of software stocks, which lead the domestic stock market trend, has begun. The stock prices of IT service, game, content and software companies that were on the outskirts of the hardware powers have been displaying a rapid increase in their percentage in the domestic stock market. An example is IT service for which Samsung SDS came to the fore in the securities market.

According to Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 1st, Samsung SDS (9th) and SK C&C (20th) were first ranked in the KOSPI top 20 stocks in terms market capitalization as of the end of 2014. The percentage of Samsung SDS’s market cap is 1.9% and that of SK C&C’s is 0.9%. The two companies represent over 5.7% of the market capitalization of the top 20 companies.

Despite the slow performances of POSCO ICT and Donbu CNI last year, once Lotte Data Communication Company, which is preparing for stock market listing at the moment, and LG CNS, which is rumored of stock market listing, set out for the listing in the New Year, the percentage of IT service industries in the domestic stock market will expand further. Stock market insiders analyze that, starting with Samsung SDS’s listing, the stock prices of IT service providers will be overvalued and the level of interest in the industry will increase.

Game and content stocks are leading the KOSDAQ market in place of IT component and equipment companies in the past.

While 22 of 29 industries in the KOSDAQ market recorded a stock price increase last year, digital content recorded a particularly high growth rate of 76.5% (768.72 → 1357.08). This trend was led by mobile games, such as com2us (+402%), SundayToz (+316%) and Webzen (+296%).

A KRX insider said, “The market-leading industries have changed.” He analyzed, “In 2013, broadcasting service, food and beverage, cigarette and transport equipment and component industries led the increase.” Metal (-21.6%) and IT component (-17.6%) could not avoid a bearish trend.

According to KRX, while an expansion of IT and software companies including Internet and digital contents developers was noteworthy, the percentage of traditional industries, such as manufacturing, IT hardware, communications and broadcasting and construction, decreased in the KOSDAQ market.

The KRX insider explained, “Including Daum Kakao, the KOSDAQ market diverged from machinery, IT component and communication equipment sectors and has been shifting to center on future growth industries by reflecting the industrial paradigm change.”

Last year, in which various mobile and security software developers were listed in the stock market, the percentage of IT and software companies’ market capitalization increased by 6.7% from the year before. On the other hand, IT and hardware companies’ market capitalization shrank by 3.42%.

Foreigners also bought in internet and game companies. In the KOSDAQ market, market cap of foreigners for digital contents industry last year was KRW 622.4 billion, which increased by a whopping 75%.

Yoo Hyo-jeong | hjyou@etnews.com