South Korean stocks rebounded after a week of volatility in the artificial intelligence market.
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South Korean stocks plunge 20%, nearing a bear market; the AI boom faces the awkward situation of "the more disastrous the earnings, the steeper the decline."
According to BlockBeats, on Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, South Korean stocks extended their losses as investors reassessed the outlook for AI demand. The KOSPI index fell by more than 6% at one point, breaking below 7200 points, and has cumulatively fallen by more than 20% from its all-time high last month, poised to enter technical bear market territory. Memory chip maker SK Hynix fell by as much as 5%, and Samsung Electronics fell by 6.9%. The Korea Exchange initiated a temporary trading halt on the KOSPI index, suspending algorithmic trading. South Korean stocks were among the strongest performing markets globally this year, but their performance is highly dependent on SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, amplifying volatility when sector sentiment weakens. Even with Samsung Electronics announcing a 19-fold surge in quarterly profits earlier this week, chip stocks continued to be under pressure. Jordan Klein, a TMT sector expert at Mizuho Securities, stated that investors overreacted to Samsung's preliminary second-quarter results. He believes this sell-off in semiconductor stocks is more a sign of waning momentum than a deterioration in fundamentals. Klein stated that excluding one-off bonus expenses, Samsung's operating profit actually significantly exceeded expectations, with its storage business implied operating margin potentially exceeding 80%. He indicated that Samsung's single-quarter operating profit has already surpassed the total of the past three years, and reacting to Samsung's stock price based solely on preliminary results is "extremely short-sighted." Meanwhile, an AI trading rotation occurred in Asian markets. Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks rose, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rising as much as 3.4%, the Hang Seng Tech Index rising over 5% intraday, Alibaba rising over 8%, and Tencent rising over 3%. Market analysts believe that funds are flowing from crowded trades focused on AI infrastructure to markets with lower valuations and more value-oriented characteristics. Reuters' report on DeepSeek's self-developed chip and The Information's report on Zhipu AI considering designing its own AI chip further fueled this rotation. (Jinshi)
Analysis: South Korean stocks have plummeted more than 20% from their peak and are poised to enter a technical bear market.
PANews reported on July 8th that, according to Jinshi, the South Korean stock market continued its decline, with the KOSPI index falling by more than 6% intraday, accumulating a drop of over 20% since its June peak, poised to enter a technical bear market. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell by approximately 7% and 5% respectively, as investors reassess the prospects for AI demand. South Korea has been the world's best-performing stock market this year, but its over-reliance on two chipmakers makes it particularly vulnerable to shifts in industry sentiment. Leveraged ETFs amplified two-way volatility, further exacerbating market fluctuations. Despite Samsung Electronics' quarterly profit surging 19-fold this week, chip stocks continued their decline, highlighting that traders are demanding more evidence to justify the exorbitant investments across the entire supply chain. Fidelity International portfolio manager Ian Samson stated, "The current increased volatility stems largely from fundamental uncertainty."
Circuit breakers have become commonplace in the South Korean stock market, with high volatility attracting retail investors, turning trading in South Korean stocks into a "squid game."
According to Mars Finance, on July 7th, the Wall Street Journal published an article analyzing the recent high volatility of the South Korean stock market. The article cited data showing that in the past year, the South Korean KOSPI index fluctuated by more than 2% on 77 separate days. During the same period, the S&P 500 index in the US experienced only five such instances. The KOSPI fluctuated by more than 3% on 44 days, while the S&P 500 never exceeded 3%, and the KOSPI fluctuated by more than 5% on 23 days. The report stated that this volatility has become one of the factors attracting many South Korean retail investors who trade purely for the sake of trading. Maxence Visseau, founder of macro and quantitative hedge fund Arkevium Capital, commented, "Volatility is the key attraction for retail investors seeking excitement." The report also noted that foreign capital outflows exceeded $100 billion (approximately 154 trillion won) in the first half of this year, with $30 billion flowing out in June alone. This trend "could ultimately harm local investors."
South Korean beauty and retail stocks led the market gains, and Gate.com continues to expand its investment portfolio in South Korean stocks.
According to ChainCatcher, Gate's market data shows that the South Korean stock market was active today. Manyo Factory, a cosmetics stock, reached $11.60, up 18.43%; Heung Koo Petroleum reached $6.88, up 14.72%; and IT'S HANBUL reached $7.25, up 13.51%, with several popular South Korean stocks leading the market gains. Gate has established a 24/7 trading service system covering the three core markets of US, Hong Kong, and South Korea, supporting over 10,000 US stocks and ETFs, over 1,500 Hong Kong stocks, and over 1,000 South Korean stocks, totaling over 12,500 stocks and ETFs globally. Users can participate in global stock investment through their Gate unified account using USDT, supporting fractional share transactions starting from as low as 0.01 shares, and enjoying stock dividend rights. The platform also supports cross-brokerage transfers for US and Hong Kong stocks, as well as corporate actions such as stock splits and consolidations, further optimizing the stock investment service experience.
"Whale Tracking" profited from its whale prediction on South Korean semiconductor stocks yesterday, yielding a daily profit of $1.01 million.
According to BlockBeats, on July 7th, Hyperinsight monitoring showed that as of press time, the whale (0x4c7) tracking the short Korean stocks during the "Week of Fate" yesterday still maintained its short position in semiconductors, with 6 short positions related to semiconductors, a total notional size of approximately US$31.029 million, and a total floating profit of approximately US$838,000. The profit and loss changes are mainly concentrated on two short positions in Korean stocks. At the time of yesterday's writing, the whale short positions in Samsung Electronics (SMSN) and SK Hynix (SKHX) totaled approximately $14.84 million, with a floating loss of approximately $638,000. After the decline in Korean semiconductor stocks today, the two short positions have turned into a combined floating profit of approximately $378,000, and the capital has recovered by $1.01 million. This address is currently increasing its short positions in Samsung. In the past half hour, this address has opened 1,612 short positions in Samsung, totaling 6,449,773 contracts, worth approximately $1,283,600. The relevant short orders are as follows: SK Hynix (4x Isolated margin): Size approximately $10.168 million, average price $1461.062, liquidation price $1724.93, unrealized profit approximately $173,000 (+6.7%). Samsung Electronics (4x Isolated margin): Size approximately $4.937 million, average price $200.906, liquidation price $233.54, unrealized profit approximately $206,000 (+16.0%). In addition, the address also added approximately $974,000 in short positions in NBIS and approximately $625,000 in short positions in the DRAM index during the same period. Previous report: "Whale Discovery" revealed that a major account short Korean semiconductor stocks during a "week of destiny," with short positions in Samsung and SK Hynix totaling $14.8 million.
Japanese and South Korean stock markets closed lower, with South Korean stocks triggering a second circuit breaker during trading.
PANews reported on July 7th that, according to Jinshi, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 1480.73 points, or 2.12%, at 68256.96 on Tuesday, July 7th. The South Korean KOSPI index closed down 395.41 points, or 4.91%, at 7655.92 on Tuesday, July 7th, having fallen more than 8% intraday, triggering a second circuit breaker. Among individual stocks, SK Hynix closed down 6%, and Samsung Electronics fell nearly 7%.