00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:30NW yesterday, a third straight day of selling.
00:33NVIDIA just signed a lease deal worth up to $50 billion, and circular financing worries
00:39are back.
00:40Meanwhile, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy posted opposite earnings surprises off the very same
00:46currency move.
00:49It's Wednesday, July 29th.
00:51Here's what today's story could mean for the Korean market.
00:54The sell-off accelerated after China's CXMT surged in its debut listing, and reports emerged
01:01of domestic DUV lithography production, reviving fears China could narrow the memory chip gap.
01:08Rising financing costs for AI infrastructure added pressure, as NVIDIA's five-year bond
01:15CDS spread jumped to 0.82%, from around 0.35% to 0.50%.
01:23Speculation that the Fed could deliver a surprise rate hike this week added another layer of
01:28risk-off pressure across tech-heavy markets.
01:32Here's what the numbers show.
01:34COSPI closed at 6,023.66, a monthly loss of 28.9%, surpassing the 23.1% drop recorded during
01:45the 2008 financial crisis.
01:47Foreign investors sold 4.97 trillion won, about $3.4 billion in shares yesterday, extending
01:56their selling streak to three straight sessions.
01:59Individual investors bought 4.33 trillion won, about $2.96 billion, the same day, absorbing
02:07much of that foreign selling.
02:09Hanwha Ocean posted a second-quarter operating profit of 736.1 billion won, about $503 million,
02:19up 98% and well above forecasts thanks to its low currency hedge ratio.
02:24Samsung Heavy Industries posted 325 billion won, about $222 million in operating profit, up 58.7%,
02:35but below forecasts because its near-full currency hedge locked in older, lower exchange rates.
02:42COSPI's forward price-to-earnings ratio fell to 5.1 times, with semiconductor stocks trading
02:49below four times, the lowest valuation level since 2000.
02:54So what does this mean for investors watching their positions this week?
02:59Earlier, we said COSPI just posted a 28.9% monthly drop.
03:04Here's what that actually means for you.
03:06This is now deeper than the 2008 crisis on a one-month basis, so position sizing and volatility
03:13management matter more than calling a bottom.
03:16Analysts remain split, with some describing this as a supply and demand-driven correction,
03:22and others calling it the early stage of a genuine bear market tied to slowing growth.
03:27Watch this week's earnings from SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, plus upcoming big tech
03:33results and the FOMC meeting, since these events are widely seen as the real test of whether
03:40the AI investment cycle still holds.
03:43That's today's AI Prism, Stock Investors.
03:47This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and
03:53reviewed by a human editor.
03:55AI Prism is a Juan Ifra award-winning series.
03:59We'll be back tomorrow.
04:00You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
