[Good Morning Market] New York Rebounds on Eased US-China Tensions... KOSPI Also Expected to Open Higher

The three major indices on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher on expectations that the US-China trade conflict would ease. Investor sentiment improved after US President Donald Trump issued conciliatory messages toward China. On October 14, the Korean stock market is also expected to open higher, influenced by hopes for an easing of US-China tensions.

Yonhap News Agency

On October 13 (local time) in the New York stock market, the blue-chip-focused Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 46,067.58, up 587.98 points (1.29%) from the previous trading day. The S&P 500 Index, which focuses on large-cap stocks, rose 102.21 points (1.56%) to 6,654.72, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index climbed 490.18 points (2.21%) to 22,694.61.

Investor sentiment improved after President Trump sent a message to China. The day before, President Trump posted on social media, "Don't worry about China. Everything will be fine," adding, "He (President Xi Jinping of China) does not want his country to experience a recession, and neither do I."

By sector, technology stocks showed strong performance. US semiconductor company Broadcom surged 9.88% following news that it had signed a multi-year contract with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, to build customized artificial intelligence (AI) chips and computing systems. Oracle also rose 5.14%. In addition, Nvidia and AMD gained 2.88% and 0.77%, respectively.

Han Jiyoung, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, explained, "Until the weekend, there seemed to be growing concerns in the stock market about a renewed US-China trade conflict, but the mood is thawing sooner than expected." She added, "This is because, in addition to Trump's conciliatory remarks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant also stated that Trump and President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a summit at the APEC meeting, and that the export control situation could be eased."

The Korean stock market is expected to open higher today. This is due to the 4.9% rise in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and expectations of easing US-China trade tensions. One researcher explained, "As expectations for easing US-China trade tensions spread and the market digests Samsung Electronics' preliminary earnings event, an upward trend is likely. In terms of sectors, semiconductor stocks are expected to attract the most attention in the market."