[Featured Stocks] US Nasdaq Rally... Naver Up 4% and Kakao Up 5% Together

[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Naver (NAVER) and Kakao, the representative growth stocks of the domestic stock market, are showing strength in early trading on the 1st. This is attributed to the significant rise in the Nasdaq index in the U.S. stock market the previous day.

As of 9:30 a.m. on the day, Naver (NAVER) is trading at 194,000 KRW, up 3.74% (7,000 KRW) from the previous trading day. Kakao is also pointing to 59,300 KRW, up 5.14% (2,900 KRW) from the previous trading day.

Following the sharp rise in the Nasdaq index in the U.S. stock market the previous day, these growth stocks appear to be affected as well. On November 30 (local time), the Nasdaq index, centered on technology stocks in the New York stock market, closed at 11,468.00, up 4.41% (484.22 points) from the previous trading day.

The major indices of the U.S. stock market began to rise sharply after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at the possibility of slowing the pace of interest rate hikes during a speech at the Brookings Institution. Chairman Powell suggested that "the time to ease the pace of rate hikes could come as early as December," indicating that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting next month might decide on a big step (0.50 percentage point increase in the benchmark interest rate) instead of a giant step (0.75 percentage point increase).

So far, the interest rate hike trend in major countries including the U.S. has acted as a negative factor for growth stocks by increasing the discount rate on companies' future earnings.