By Kwanwoo Jun

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co.'s shares rallied Friday on hopes that its nuclear-reactor segment will get a boost from the incoming South Korean president.

Shares in the South Korean nuclear-power plant maker jumped 10% to close at 23,250 won ($18.92), outperforming the benchmark Kospi's 0.7% fall for the day.

The rally came after Yoon Suk-yeol, a pro-business opposition leader who supports nuclear energy, won the country's presidential election earlier this week.

President-elect Yoon, who will be sworn in for his single five-year term in May, pledges to reinvigorate the nuclear-energy industry by reactivating suspended atomic power plants and resuming building new ones.

Analysts expect Doosan Heavy, the sole nuclear-reactor supplier for the state utility in South Korea, to benefit from Mr. Yoon's new energy policy.

Mr. Yoon vows to ditch the current government policy of relying less on atomic energy.

The anticipated policy tailwinds could help Doosan Heavy strengthen its recovery after successfully completing a 23-month bailout program by state lenders. It made a profit turnaround in 2021.

Doosan Heavy, which earlier this week decided to change its name to Doosanenerbility, has formed an investment partnership with U.S. nuclear energy firm NuScale Power to build small modular reactors.


Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-11-22 0345ET