[Good Morning Market] Domestic Stocks Expected to Be Mixed... Spotlight on Semiconductor Shares

Micron Surges in the U.S.
Positive Sentiment for Domestic Semiconductor Stocks

The New York stock market closed lower across the board as investors exercised caution ahead of the release of the July U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is scheduled for the following day. The domestic stock market is also expected to be affected, with a wait-and-see trend likely to emerge.

On August 12, the domestic stock market is expected to continue showing mixed trends, as it did the previous day. On the previous day, a sector rotation was observed, with secondary battery stocks strengthening while cosmetics stocks weakened due to earnings shocks.

Dealers are working in the dealing room at the Seoul Hana Bank headquarters on the 11th. Photo by Yonhap News

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, predicted, "The domestic stock market is likely to experience a wait-and-see trend, with the intraday index ceiling remaining limited due to uncertainties surrounding tax reform measures, such as changes in major shareholder capital gains tax requirements, as well as caution ahead of the U.S. CPI release."

Among sectors, semiconductor stocks are drawing attention. This is because Micron Technology, regarded as a "barometer" for the memory industry, surged sharply in the U.S. stock market the previous day, creating a favorable environment for domestic semiconductor stocks.

Han explained, "Although there has not yet been a specific announcement regarding individual semiconductor tariff items, it is important to pay attention to the direction of these stocks and their supply and demand. The reason is that Micron in the U.S. revised up its fourth-quarter sales guidance, driven by increased sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for artificial intelligence (AI) demand and rising DRAM prices, resulting in a sharp rally of over 4%."

Meanwhile, on August 11 (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 43,975.09, down 200.52 points (0.45%) from the previous trading day. The S&P 500, which focuses on large-cap stocks, closed at 6,373.45, down 16.0 points (0.25%), while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at 21,385.40, down 64.62 points (0.30%).

Although news broke that Nvidia (-0.3%) and AMD (-0.2%) had agreed to pay 15% of their China sales to the U.S. government, the impact on their stock prices was limited.

Intel shares surged 3.51% following reports that CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who had been publicly asked to resign by President Donald Trump, would visit the White House.

With expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September growing, market participants are focused on the upcoming release of the July U.S. CPI on August 12. The market anticipates that the July CPI will show a steeper increase compared to June.

For core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy prices, the July estimate is a 0.3% increase from the previous month and a 3% increase year-on-year.