Steel and pipe companies are seeing gains amid expectations of increased U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) development investments.
As of 9:29 a.m. (KST) on Wednesday, HiSteel surged 10.93% to 3,655 KRW (about 2.70 USD).
Nexteel also climbed 6.44% to 14,050 KRW (about 10.37 USD), while SeAH Steel rose 6.70% to 156,000 KRW (about 115 USD).
Buying interest in these steel pipe stocks has increased following speculation that President Donald Trump may announce investment projects in the U.S. using South Korea’s strategic investment fund as early as Wednesday (local time).
Bloomberg and Reuters report that President Trump plans to unveil South Korea’s 200 billion USD investment plan at the White House on Wednesday. This plan reportedly includes allocating about 54 billion USD to the Alaska LNG project.
The Alaska LNG project, a key initiative for President Trump, aims to construct an 807-mile pipeline to export Alaskan gas to Asia. This has fueled expectations that domestic steel pipe manufacturers could see increased project supply opportunities.