[Edaily Reporter Nam Soyeon ] As the domestic stock market plummeted—triggering sell-side circuit breakers on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets—some stocks actually hit new 52-week highs, drawing attention.

According to the Korea Exchange and other sources on the 5th, KT&G soared to 201,000 won during the trading session—up 4.69% from the previous trading day—setting a new 52-week high.
KT&G, which opened at 195,800 won, showed strength by briefly breaking through the 200,000-won mark in the morning. However, it pared its gains in the afternoon and closed regular trading at 194,200 won, up 2,200 won (1.15%) from the previous trading day.
On that day, the KOSPI fell more than 5% during the session due to weakness in U.S.-based semiconductor stocks and massive selling by foreign investors. Investor sentiment across the broader market was dampened as major semiconductor stocks, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, fell sharply.
As the sharp decline continued, the Korea Exchange triggered a sell-side “side car” on the KOSPI market at 10:16 a.m. At 2:27 p.m., a sell-side “side car” was also triggered on the KOSDAQ market. A sell-side “side car” is a mechanism that suspends the effectiveness of program sell orders for five minutes to mitigate the impact of sharp price fluctuations in the futures market on the spot market.
Amid this market-wide turmoil, KT&G’s strong performance is attributed to its stable earnings and expectations of increased shareholder returns.
KT&G’s consolidated revenue for the third quarter of this year, announced that day, was 1.9052 trillion won, a 4.3% increase from the same period last year. Operating profit was provisionally estimated at 530.1 billion won, up 13.9% from the same period last year. Both third-quarter revenue and operating profit marked record highs for any single quarter.
KT&G also unveiled its medium- to long-term shareholder return plan at a separate “Capital Markets Day” event held that day.
The company plans to raise this year’s annual dividend per share to 8,000 won, an increase of 2,000 won from last year’s 6,000 won. It also aims to expand its dividend payout ratio—currently around 60%—to over 75% by 2030.
In addition, the company plans to repurchase and cancel approximately 1.2 trillion won worth of its own shares over the four-year period from 2027 to 2030. Including this, the company plans to invest a total of 5 trillion won in shareholder returns through dividends and share buybacks and cancellations during the same period. The company also stated that it would consider special returns if it determines that further enhancement of shareholder value is necessary.