Amid mounting fears of the new coronavirus infection, share prices of related stocks are fluctuating wildly.

Hansong Neotech, which has entered the Chinese antiviral mask – called KF94 -- market, saw stock trading at 1,780 won ($1.5) per share at noon Thursday, up 7.23 percent from the previous trading day. Hansong’s share price rose 9 percent upon the start of trading after it was classified as “mask-related” stocks.

On the contrary, Kukje Pharmaceuticals, Monalisa, Okong, and Knowhow Makes Purely Advanced (KM), which had been classified as mask-related stocks, seemed to level off. These stocks had once received a warning as their prices jumped for five consecutive days.

Although these stocks are taking a breather, for now, they are likely to reenter the phase of volatility thanks to explosive demand for Korean masks in China and Taiwan, market watchers said.

Amid mounting concerns about coronavirus infection, some mask makers took advantage of the situation by sharply raising product prices to incur the resentment of consumers.

On the other hand, stocks related to vaccines and diagnoses were on a downturn.

GeneOne Life Science (GLS), a vaccine-related stock, was trading at 4,960 won at noon, down 7.29 percent from Wednesday. GLS finished trading at 5,350 won on Wednesday, sharply down by 16.41 percent from the previous day. Its share price jumped 29.55 percent on Tuesday but has since lost most of the gains.

PCL, which reported it had developed the diagnosis for the severe acute respiratory infection virus, was trading at 11,650 won, 9.69 percent lower than Wednesday. Boditech Med, known to take up the largest share in the Chinese infection test kit market, also changed hands at 15,550 won, recording a 7.99 percent decline.

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