At This Year’s First FSS Executives’ Meeting
Stock Market, Exchange Rates, and Growth Rates in Focus
As the KOSPI hits an all-time high and expectations grow over whether the market will firmly enter the "5000 era," senior executives at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) have chosen the stock market as the topic for their first internal lecture of the year. Closely linked to financial markets, the FSS is effectively embarking on intensive study to deepen its understanding of overall market trends.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 4th, at the FSS executives' meeting held the previous day (the 3rd), JP Morgan economist Park Seokgil delivered a lecture on the Korean economy and financial markets. It was the first official lecture of the year for FSS executives, and key executives, including FSS Governor Lee Chanjin, were in attendance. The FSS has been inviting external experts to give lectures for its executives on a quarterly basis or whenever major issues arise.
The lecture that day was reportedly not limited to the outlook for the domestic stock market, but broadly covered the overall financial market, including exchange rate trends, Korea's medium- to long-term growth prospects, and changes in the global macroeconomic environment. This is seen as an effort to share the perspective of a global investment bank and enhance understanding of the market and the macroeconomy.
Unlike internal lectures that usually last around 30 minutes, this session went on for close to an hour. Economist Park emphasized the medium- to long-term trajectory of the Korean stock market and the importance of the semiconductor sector, explaining that the earnings trends and share prices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will be the key variables determining the future direction of the KOSPI index. During the Q&A session that followed, questions closely tied to current market conditions reportedly poured in, including whether the recent rebound can be sustained amid heightened stock market volatility.
JP Morgan has maintained a relatively optimistic view on the Korean stock market since last year. Last year, it drew market attention by suggesting the possibility of the KOSPI reaching the 5000 level, and in this lecture it was reported to have presented an outlook to the effect that "the index can surpass the 5000 mark if certain conditions are met." One FSS official who attended the lecture said, "It is difficult to predict the index level exactly, but the explanation leaned toward the view that there is still room for further gains."
Economist Park is known as a broad-based expert on financial markets and the macroeconomy, and is a frequent speaker at major financial institutions such as the Bank of Korea. He has given numerous lectures on topics such as global financial market trends and monetary policy.
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