South Korea's stock market is expected to focus on individual stocks amid two key factors: a correction in U.S. semiconductor stocks and the visit of Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Following a night of profit-taking in U.S. tech stocks, the market is paying close attention to Huang's meetings with local business leaders and discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration.
On June 4, U.S. stock indices closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose by 1.73% and 0.41%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.09%.
The Dow reached a record high, buoyed by strong performances in healthcare and financial sectors. In contrast, the Nasdaq declined, affected by weakness in semiconductor stocks, including Broadcom.
Broadcom plummeted by 12.59%, while other memory-related stocks such as Micron Technology (-7.74%), SanDisk (-3.92%), and Western Digital (-3.13%) also experienced significant declines.
Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, commented on the downturn, stating, "The correction in leading stocks was not due to fundamental or macroeconomic issues like an impending memory down cycle or rising interest rates. Instead, it appears to be a temporary reaction from investors looking to take profits after a series of record highs, leading to a heightened market expectation in the short term."
International oil prices fell, with Brent crude futures dropping by 2.8% to $95.03 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures declining by 3.1% to $93.04 per barrel.
The South Korean market is likely to reflect some impact from the correction in U.S. tech stocks. However, attention is expected to center on Huang's visit and the potential beneficiaries of his discussions.
As of 8:23 a.m. on June 5, shares of Samsung Electronics were trading at 340,000 won, down 3.27% from the previous trading day. SK Hynix also saw a decline of 3.92%, trading at 2,208,000 won. LG Electronics fell by 4.57% to 313,000 won, while Naver dropped 3.74% to 257,500 won. Conversely, Doosan Enerbility rose by 2.42% to 101,600 won.
Seo Sang-young, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, noted, "There are still concerns regarding the dollar-won exchange rate and ongoing foreign selling pressure. However, Huang's visit and the expectations for collaboration with major companies could lead to a concentration of interest in specific stocks, suggesting that the market will focus more on individual stocks rather than overall index changes."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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