[Anchor]

Behind today's historical surge is a new U.S. hedge fund. While it grew rapidly by heavily investing in AI-related companies, it recently suffered massive losses due to a sharp drop in tech stocks. To cover these losses, the fund has continuously sold off its holdings. Now, this "vicious cycle of selling" has been resolved.

Min Gyeongho has the details.

[Reporter]

The turning point came largely from expectations surrounding semiconductor demand.

Microsoft and Amazon successively reported cloud business revenues that exceeded expectations, easing doubts about semiconductor demand.

News that a fund managed by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher hailed as a prodigy investor, was sold to another hedge fund provided a welcome tailwind for supply and demand.

The fund was an aggressive one utilizing 4x leverage, centered on semiconductor stocks listed in the U.S. such as SK Hynix. However, as semiconductor stock prices plummeted this month, it began facing heavy losses to its capital.

As the capital shrank, the relative size of its debt grew, forcing the fund to sell its holdings to adjust this ratio. This volume of sales triggered another decline, creating a vicious cycle.

Amid this situation, news of the fund's sale sparked interpretations that large-scale selling pressure could ease, causing U.S. semiconductor stocks to skyrocket overnight.

[Han Ji-young / Deputy Manager, Investment Strategy Team, Kiwoom Securities: Pressures like forced liquidation and margin calls will ease, and it will serve as a Signal that the deleveraging that dragged stock prices down is coming to an end....]

Our semiconductor stocks, which had been undervalued compared to U.S. counterparts like Micron, bounced back much stronger like a spring.

[Shin Seung-jin / Head of Investment Information Team, Samsung Securities: Even with today's rise, the KOSPI valuation remains in a significantly undervalued zone compared to the global stock market. I believe the possibility of an additional rebound is high right now.]

However, voices of caution remain, pointing out that major price-volatility catalysts still lie ahead, including earnings announcements from U.S. semiconductor companies like AMD and Nvidia, as well as demand surveys for DRAM next year.

Experts also warn that the past month's market trends showed how excessive debt-financed investing can lead to unexpected, heavy losses.

(Photo: Kim Hyun-sang, Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae)