Hotel Shilla Co. saw its stock jump by nearly 11 percent on Monday morning on expectations of a recovery in the duty-free business.

Shares of Hotel Shilla were trading at 43,300 won ($30.1) as of 10:55 a.m., up 10.74 percent from the previous session.

After opening 1.53 percent higher, the stock continued to gain strength throughout the morning.

Market analysts said the duty-free sector had likely passed its worst phase, citing eased competition among downtown stores.

Daishin Securities Co. said in an investor note that efforts across the industry were leading to meaningful improvements in profitability, particularly in downtown locations.

The securities company raised its investment rating on Hotel Shilla from “market perform” to “buy” and lifted the target price from 42,000 won to 50,000 won.

Shinhan Securities Co. described Hotel Shilla’s first-quarter results as encouraging, citing profit improvements from downtown stores despite a difficult business environment, raising its target price from 38,000 won to 41,000 won.

Hotel Shilla on Thursday reported an operating loss of 2.5 billion won for the first quarter, swinging to a loss from the same period last year.

However, the loss narrowed significantly compared to the previous quarter’s 27.9 billion won, and it was smaller than the market’s consensus estimate of 7.3 billion won.

Meanwhile, SEC, a provider of electronic beam inspection equipment, saw strong gains on its first day of trading on the Kosdaq market Monday.

As of 10:58 a.m., shares of SEC were trading at 16,340 won, up 8.93 percent from its initial public offering price of 15,000 won.

After opening with a 34.67 percent gain and briefly climbing to a 39.33 percent increase, the stock’s gains gradually eased.

Founded in 2000, SEC specializes in X-ray systems for the semiconductor and battery industries, defense-related X-ray equipment, and tabletop scanning electron microscopes.

Last year, the company posted 53.9 billion won in sales, 1.3 billion won in operating profit, and 2.1 billion won in net profit.

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