Dark Clouds Loom Over Korean Stock Market Following U.S. Tech Plunge

[Anchor]

After experiencing a sharp decline over the past week, our stock market managed to rebound toward the end of the week. However, dark clouds are gathering once again as the U.S. stock market plummeted, centered around tech stocks last Friday.

Reporter Baegun has the details.

[Reporter]

Last Friday on Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index plunged by 2.15%.

Major semiconductor stocks experienced particularly steep drops, with AMD, Intel, and Micron Technology all recording declines of over 5%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also fell by nearly 4%, marking its eighth consecutive session of losses.

This is the longest downward streak since the 2008 financial crisis.

As astronomical sums are poured into the AI industry while doubts grow over whether investments will yield proportional returns, shares of CoreWeave, which has expanded its AI data centers through massive borrowing, plummeted by nearly 12% in a single day.

Compounding these concerns, higher-than-expected inflation and rising international oil prices have reignited fears of interest rate hikes.

The KOSPI 200 night futures closed down sharply by 3.5%, which is expected to weigh on our stock market tomorrow (the 19th).

Particularly with retail and institutional investors seeing their purchasing power reduced, concerns are rising that if foreign selling continues around major semiconductor stocks, further declines will be inevitable.

[Kim Jae-seung / Researcher, Hyundai Motor Securities : We expect that the additional selling by foreign investors will not be overwhelmingly strong. However, the key question seems to be who the buying entities will be to absorb that pressure.]

That said, many experts suggest it is difficult to view this recent downturn as the beginning of a structural bear market.

They argue that concerns over overheating AI investment must be distinguished from actual semiconductor industry conditions and demand.

[Park Sang-hyun / Specialist, iM Securities : Given that the capital expenditures of AI companies themselves remain solid, our assessment is that it is still premature to view this as a structural downward trend.]

Earnings reports from major U.S. tech companies that have driven AI investment are scheduled to begin four days from now, and announcements regarding the scale of AI investments and profit outlooks are expected to dictate the short-term direction of the stock market.

(Video Editing: Kim Byeong-jik, Design: Yang Gi-tae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.