00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:06It's Thursday, August 27. Here's why global investors are paying attention to Korea today.
00:1357% of economists now expect the Bank of Japan to hike rates in September, up from just 5%
00:20a month ago.
00:21The ECB is reportedly preparing its own quarter point move next month.
00:27Korean issuers are still selling dollar and won-linked bonds, despite near 5.2% U.S. 30-year yields,
00:34and Chinese buyers are absorbing most of it.
00:38A voting rights fight at Korea's Inc. could scramble one of Korea's highest-profile shareholder votes next month.
00:45Global tightening expectations are resetting fast.
00:48A Reuters survey shows the share of economists expecting a BOJ September hike jumped from 5% to 57%
00:56in a single month.
00:58At the same time, Korean issuers from state agencies to brokerages are pushing ahead with foreign currency bond sales during
01:06what is normally a slow August window.
01:09Both moves are unfolding as a governance dispute over Korea's Inc. heads toward a shareholder vote in September.
01:16Here's what the numbers show.
01:18Korea Ex-Im Bank raised $625 million New Zealand dollars, about 515.6 billion won, marking its first New Zealand
01:28issuance in nine years.
01:31KB Securities secured $300 million from Asian and European institutions, its first such deal since 2019.
01:38While the Korea SME and startup agency priced $400 million at the tightest spread among comparable state issuers.
01:48The U.S. Treasury has resumed long bond buybacks to calm yields, but the 30-year Treasury yield still sits
01:55near 5.2%, keeping dollar funding costs elevated for Korean borrowers.
02:01Chinese institutional investors have accounted for 70-80% of order books on recent Korean dollar bond sales.
02:1057% of economists surveyed by Reuters between August 17th and 24th expect a BOJ rate hike in September, versus
02:195% who expected a third-quarter hike a month earlier.
02:24ECB policymakers are reportedly preparing a 0.25% percentage point hike for September, and Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel
02:32said current policy rates are unlikely to bring inflation back to target without further tightening.
02:39Youngpung and MBK partners petitioned Seoul Central District Court on August 21st to block Korea Zinc chairman Choi Yun-bum
02:48from voting roughly 5% of shares tied to a 541.1 billion won loan.
02:57Korea's listed companies paid out 43.2 trillion won in dividends in the first half, already 85% of all
03:05of last year's total payouts.
03:06So what does this mean for global investors weighing exposure to Korea?
03:11Earlier, we said Chinese buyers are absorbing 70-80% of Korean dollar bond order books.
03:18Here's what that actually means for you.
03:21That flow is currently substituting for the usual August liquidity gap, so any pullback from Chinese accounts would show up
03:28quickly in Korean funding spreads.
03:30Layer in a faster BOJ and ECB tightening path, and a governance fight at Korea Zinc, and Korea's near-term
03:38risk premium is being shaped as much by external rate moves and single-name disputes as by domestic fundamentals.
03:46That's today's A.I. Prism, Global Investors.
03:50This episode was produced with A.I. Assistants based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor.
03:58A.I. Prism is a Juan Ifra Award-winning series.
04:02We'll be back tomorrow.
04:03You've been listening to A.I. Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
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