[Anchor]
Despite a surprise earnings report, Samsung Electronics shares plummeted by 6.9%, dragging the KOSPI down with them. It appears that the ongoing trend of rebalancing by foreign and institutional investors—essentially, their selling spree—was too strong to be reversed.
Reporter Kim Hye-min has the story.
[Reporter]
Samsung Electronics shares began to tumble immediately after the market opened.
This came after the company had already announced its second-quarter earnings, which reached an all-time high.
The stock fell by as much as 10% at one point before closing 6.9% lower.
Regarding the sharp decline despite an earnings surprise that exceeded market expectations, securities firms suggest that the positive outlook had already been priced in, leading to profit-taking.
Samsung Electronics shares had risen more than 10% in the two days leading up to the earnings announcement.
Previously, Samsung Electronics recorded earnings surprises in 16 quarterly reports since 2019, but the stock price fell on the day of the announcement in 10 of those instances.
Furthermore, as foreign investors continue their rebalancing—selling off some of their holdings in stocks that have risen—they used the earnings announcement as an opportunity to lock in profits, which drove the share price down.
[Kim Dong-won / Head of Research, KB Securities: The KOSPI index has risen nearly 90% since the beginning of the year. As it recorded the highest returns among global stock markets, we have no choice but to interpret this as the strongest pressure for profit-taking.]
While some diagnose this as a short-term correction, concerns persist that the semiconductor industry could face a downturn in the long term due to slowing demand and oversupply.
[Lee Hyo-seob / Director of Financial Industry, Korea Capital Market Institute: With Micron, Kioxia, and Chinese semiconductor companies announcing large-scale investments, and Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also announcing major investments, there are concerns that the pace of price increases will slow down as semiconductor supply increases in the future.]
Global investment bank Morgan Stanley stated, "The weakness in U.S. semiconductor stocks could indicate that market capital is shifting toward big tech companies that operate large-scale AI data centers."
The earnings reports of U.S. big tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon, scheduled for the middle of this month, are expected to be key indicators for assessing the strength of future AI investment and demand.
(Reported by Seol Chi-hwan | Video edited by Park Ji-in | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun and Kim Han-gil)
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