SOCAR makes muted start on 1st day of market debut

All News 10:07 August 22, 2022

SEOUL, Aug. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's largest car-sharing platform operator, SOCAR Inc., got off to a muted start on its first day of trading Monday in the face of unfavorable market conditions.

SOCAR traded at 28,200 won (US$21.09) won per share as of 9:47 a.m., 0.71 percent up from the 28,000 won opening price.

Its initial public offering (IPO) price was set at 28,000 won earlier this month.

SOCAR's debut came amid worries over its overvaluation and an economic slowdown.

Its IPO price was set at the bottom end of a price range amid lackluster demand and an overvaluation controversy.

A slew of unfavorable market conditions have portended a muted debut for the car-sharing operator, whose market share remains at around 80 percent.

The Bank of Korea and central banks in major economies have been implementing aggressive monetary tightening.

In July, the Bank of Korea raised its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage point to 2.25 percent, the steepest and sixth increase in borrowing costs since August last year. The U.S. Federal Reserve's July minutes also signaled more rate hikes in the future.