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The Korean Stock Market (KOSPI) experienced extreme volatility, with a 90% rally from last year's bottom followed by sharp corrections. Despite turbulent price swings, corporate earnings remain resilient, memory cycle strength persists, and governance reforms are accelerating. Visible deleveraging has occurred in leveraged ETFs, but retail risk appetite is migrating to structured products like autocallable ETFs.
The Nikkei 225 and KOSPI advanced on Friday as falling oil prices and easing US Treasury yields revived demand for Asian technology shares, while investors absorbed another step towards tighter monetary policy after the Bank of Japan raised rates to a 31-year high. South Korea's KOSPI climbed about 2%, outperforming the region as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rallied and foreign investors returned to the market.
A brand-new ETF just gave U.S. investors a single-ticker shortcut into South Korea's semiconductor giants, but a 0.65% fee, zero performance history, and a heavily concentrated basket raise real questions about whether the tradeoff is worth it.
Asian stocks diverged on Tuesday as South Korea's KOSPI struggled to shake off pressure on semiconductor shares while Japan's Nikkei 225 recovered, leaving the region's two most AI-sensitive markets moving in opposite directions ahead of key US and Japanese rate decisions. The KOSPI fell as much as 0.76% in early Seoul trading before paring most of the decline, extending a difficult stretch after Monday's sharp technology sell-off.
iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) is up 148% YoY, driven by heavy concentration in Samsung and SK hynix, both benefiting from strong AI memory demand. Nearly half of EWY is exposed to two companies, making the ETF highly sensitive to the memory cycle and AI infrastructure spending trends. I rate EWY a Hold, as further upside depends on continued tight HBM supply and robust Korean exports, but risk/reward is less compelling after the rally.
South Korea's KOSPI and Japan's Nikkei 225 led a broad Asian selloff on Friday as oil surged above $108 a barrel and US bond yields moved dangerously close to 5%, reviving concerns that inflation could force central banks to tighten further. The KOSPI dropped more than 2.5%, extending Thursday's weakness, while the Nikkei 225 tumbled about 2.8%.
South Korean stocks fell sharply on Thursday as Brent crude held above $100 a barrel, pushing the KOSPI back below the 7,000 mark just a day after it reclaimed the level for the first time in more than a month. The benchmark was down 1.28% at 6,961.23 by late morning in Seoul.
South Korea's KOSPI outperformed Asian markets on Wednesday while Japan's Nikkei 225 recovered from the previous session's selloff, as renewed strength in semiconductor and AI-related shares offset concerns over oil approaching $100 a barrel. The KOSPI rose 1.67% to 7,070.94 by late morning, reclaiming the 7,000 mark as Samsung Electronics gained 1.48% and SK Hynix jumped 4.85%.