[Good Morning Stock Market] US Stocks Hit Consecutive New Highs, KOSPI Expected to Start Slightly Lower

The U.S. stock market hit new record highs for the second consecutive day, driven by strength in semiconductors. The domestic stock market is expected to start slightly lower.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 269.24 points (0.68%) from the previous trading day to close at 39,781.37. The S&P 500, which focuses on large-cap stocks, increased by 16.91 points (0.32%) to 5,241.53, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 32.43 points (0.20%) to close at 16,401.84.

Last night in the U.S. stock market, Micron Technology's fiscal second-quarter earnings exceeded market expectations, causing its stock to surge more than 14%, reaching a historic high. This led to a broad rally across the semiconductor value chain, including Broadcom (+5.6%), Applied Materials (+2.8%), and Lam Research (+3.5%). Conversely, Apple fell more than 4% after the U.S. Department of Justice filed antitrust lawsuits in 15 states, marking its largest single-day drop since early August last year.

Seokhwan Kim, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "The Russell 2000 showed relatively strong performance for two consecutive days compared to major indices," adding, "This is due to the U.S. manufacturing sector hitting its highest level in 21 months, and key economic indicators such as existing home sales and leading economic indexes surpassing market expectations."

The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Korea Index Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) rose 1.1%, and the Emerging Markets Index ETF increased by 0.1%. Eurex KOSPI 200 futures fell 0.5%. Considering this, the KOSPI is expected to start slightly lower today.

In the past two days, foreign investors and institutions have led the rise in the domestic stock market by net buying over 4.7 trillion won. Notably, about 3.9 trillion won of buying was concentrated in the semiconductor sector, accounting for approximately 82% of the net purchases over the two days. Researcher Kim noted, "The net buying trend by foreign and institutional investors that has continued since last year needs to be closely monitored," and added, "If the expected earnings recovery cycle begins in earnest this year, a revaluation of valuations and stock prices is highly likely."

Jiyoung Han, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Expectations for Samsung Electronics subsidies and comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang positively reviewing Samsung Electronics' High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) have led not only semiconductor small and mid-cap stocks but also power equipment to be classified as beneficiaries," adding, "There is potential for related policy beneficiaries to expand into biotech."

She continued, "Recently, former U.S. President Donald Trump pointed out the U.S. reliance on Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturing," and added, "In Washington, biotech has been identified as an industry that, following AI, quantum computing, and advanced semiconductors, can simultaneously pursue commercial and military technology development objectives."

On the day, the one-month Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) USD/KRW exchange rate in New York was 1,332 won, and reflecting this, the USD/KRW exchange rate is expected to start 8 won higher.