[Good Morning Market] Semiconductor Stocks Cushion Sharp U.S. Tech Sell-Off... Korean Market Seen Opening Slightly Lower

On the 5th, the Korean stock market is expected to open slightly lower, as the sharp decline in U.S. technology stocks is partially offset by a rebound in major U.S. semiconductor stocks.

On the 30th, related stock prices were displayed at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul, after the KOSPI intraday surpassed the 5,300 mark for the first time in history. According to the Korea Exchange, at 10:25 a.m. on the 30th, the KOSPI surged as high as 5,316.10, up 1.82% (94.85 points) from the previous trading day (5,221.25). Jan. 30, 2026 Kim Hyunmin, Reporter

The U.S. stock market closed mixed on the 4th (local time) amid a shock from AMD's earnings outlook (guidance). After the market closed the previous day, AMD announced that its fourth-quarter revenue last year reached 10.3 billion dollars, the largest quarterly figure ever. However, as this year's guidance fell short of expectations, the share price plunged 17.31%. As a result, overall investor sentiment toward technology stocks weakened, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 22,904.58, down 350.61 points (1.51%). The S&P 500 Index ended the session at 6,882.72, down 35.09 points (0.51%). In contrast, as funds rotated into cyclical and value stocks, energy and materials shares strengthened, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 49,501.30, up 260.31 points (0.53%).

AMD's poor performance led to a broad decline in tech stocks. Micron Technology fell 9.55% to 379.40 dollars, SanDisk dropped 15.95% to 584.55 dollars, and Western Digital declined 7.18% to 269.41 dollars. This marked a continued downturn following the launch of Anthropic's artificial intelligence (AI) automation tool Claude CoWork, which had acted as a catalyst for profit-taking in major software-related stocks.

This development appears less like a full-scale capital exodus from the U.S. stock market and more like a rotation process in which funds secured through the sale of technology stocks are moving into cyclical and value stocks. Since the beginning of the year, the IT sector (-5.2%) has posted weak returns, whereas energy (+18.4%), materials (+13.6%), consumer staples (+12.3%), and industrials (+9.2%) have delivered positive performance.

Securities firms believe it is important to note that earnings for technology stocks centered on big tech (large information technology companies) have not deteriorated and that the expansion of the AI industry is continuing. After the previous day's market close, Alphabet reported strong fourth-quarter results, with total revenue of 113.8 billion dollars and Google Cloud revenue of 17.7 billion dollars. In particular, the company drew attention by announcing this year's capital expenditure (CAPEX) guidance at 180 billion dollars, which is 56% higher than the previous estimate of 115.6 billion dollars. The fact that major U.S. semiconductor stocks are rebounding in after-hours trading is also expected to act as a buffer against declines in Asian stock markets.

Yonhap News Agency

In the Korean stock market, the upward revision of Alphabet's CAPEX outlook and the rebound in major U.S. semiconductor stocks are expected to mitigate the AMD shock, leading to a slightly weaker opening. With its hardware strengths in the AI industry, the Korean market is showing relatively low sensitivity to issues, even amid declines in U.S. software technology stocks triggered by Anthropic. The previous day as well, rotational buying continued in sectors such as nuclear power, solar power, and secondary batteries, and the KOSPI closed up at 5,371.10 (+1.57%), while the KOSDAQ ended at 1,149.43 (+0.45%).

The upward trend is continuing as idle buying demand flows in amid a "money move," in which funds are concentrating in the stock market. In addition, with the earnings season in full swing, sectors other than the leading stocks are also joining the uptrend.

Han Jiyeong, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Given that the Korean stock market cannot be completely free from changes in the U.S. stock market, it is expected to start weaker, but we think it will make up for intraday losses thanks to the rebound in semiconductor stocks and the still-not-high KOSPI valuation level." Han added, "Another point to watch is whether individual investors, who successfully bet on a net purchase of KOSPI shares worth around 5 trillion won during the plunge on Monday (the 2nd), will once again support the market intraday with their 'buy the dip' strategy during corrections."