Stock Market Today

A string of large South Korean companies is poised to offer shares to the public for the first time in October, as they scurry to take advantage of the rebounding stock market, analysts say. The initial public offering (IPO) rush comes amid a bullish stock market.

* After slumping 40 per cent last year, the benchmark stock gauge Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has surged 50 per cent to the 1,700 level so far this year as the government’s stimulus package and economic recovery hopes buoyed investor confidence.

* The TONG YANG LIFE INSURANCE CO., (KSE:003470), the nation’s fourth-largest life insurer, will become the first to test investors’ appetite for newly offered shares by offering a 340 billion won (US$286.9 million) IPO in the run-up to the listing of its shares on Seoul’s main bourse on Oct. 8.