As the Middle East war sent the Korean stock market on a roller-coaster ride, stocks sensitive to international oil and commodity price swings — including shipping, oil exploration and aluminium names — saw rapid turnover, data showed.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), shipping and resource-related stocks stood out prominently among the top 10 KOSPI stocks by turnover rate over the past week. Korea ANKOR Oil's turnover rate surged to 222.25% on the 2nd and further to 311.38% on the 3rd, reflecting an explosion in short-term trading. Namsun Aluminium, Choil Aluminium and Heung-A Shipping also moved in and out of the top 10 over the same period.
Turnover rate is calculated by dividing trading volume over a given period by the total number of listed shares. A higher figure indicates more active trading among investors. Periods of sharply rising turnover are typically accompanied by intense buying and selling among market participants and widening price volatility.
Trading surged across related stocks particularly on the 1st, when the KOSPI spiked 8.44% in a single day. Namsun Aluminium recorded a turnover rate of 65.81%, while Heung-A Shipping posted 60.11%. Analysts interpreted this as reflecting expectations that oil prices, shipping freight rates and commodity prices — which had surged during the war — could reverse direction amid hopes for a ceasefire.
Market observers characterized the pattern as a classic case of event-driven trading. After stocks plunged following the outbreak of the war and then sharply rebounded, investors focused on short-term price swings and increased their trading frequency, analysts said. Oil exploration stocks directly tied to crude prices, shipping stocks affected by logistics flows and aluminium stocks linked to commodity prices became key targets, driving rapid "theme rotation."
Experts cautioned against chasing stocks with surging turnover rates during volatile markets. Prices often swing sharply on short-term supply-demand dynamics, meaning losses can widen quickly if the direction reverses, they noted.
"A significant portion of current index volatility is being dominated by 'exogenous noise' such as overseas geopolitical news and overnight futures market movements," said Kim Gyu-jin, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS). "It is difficult to gauge a stock's pure intraday volatility based on daily volatility alone."