00:02You're listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
00:06Foreign investors just sold over $21 trillion of Korean stocks in September alone,
00:12their fifth straight month of selling. Korean investors who'd been dumping Japanese stocks
00:18for three months just flipped to buying, and they're piling into index ETFs. Anthropic's
00:25$700 trillion one AI spending plan briefly lifted Korean chip stocks today, but it wasn't
00:31enough to stop a third straight day of losses. And for the first time in a while, not a single
00:37stock qualifies to join Korea's MSCI index at the next review. It's Thursday, October 1st.
00:45Here's what today's story could mean for the Korean market. Rising US bond yields are driving
00:51sustained foreign selling of Korean chip mega caps, even as the one has strengthened back
00:58into the 1,300s. Meanwhile, Japan's market is stabilizing after a widely digested Bank of
01:06Japan hike, drawing Korean money back into index tracking funds. And a key US inflation reading
01:13came in below forecast today, adding fresh uncertainty around the Fed's next move.
01:19Here's what the numbers show. Foreign investors sold a net 21.51 trillion one of Kospi stocks in
01:26September, extending their selling streak to a fifth straight month for a cumulative 134.92 trillion
01:34one, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix alone, accounting for 76.6% of the month's net selling.
01:44Korean retail investors turned net buyers of Japanese stocks for the first time in four months,
01:50buying $8.12 million in September versus selling in June, July and August, with index ETFs capturing 77.8%
02:00of that buying, as BOJ rate hike fears eased. The Kospi fell 0.48% to 6,838.04, despite
02:12Anthropik's IPO
02:13prospectus revealing plans for at least $518 billion in AI computing infrastructure spending over the next
02:21decade, as foreign and institutional investors sold a combined $2.82 trillion one. New York Fed
02:30President John Williams said one more rate hike is likely this year, but downplayed urgency for
02:36October, pushing the implied probability of an October hike from about 70% to 50%, with markets now
02:43favoring December. U.S. August core PCE inflation came in at 3.0% annually, below the 3.3%
02:53forecast,
02:54partly due to a methodology change in how software and legal services costs are measured, though the
03:00Fed's preferred inflation gauge still remains well above its 2% target. So what does this mean for
03:08investors watching the board today? Earlier, we said foreign investors sold over $21 trillion one of
03:15Korean stocks in September. Here's what that actually means for you. Rising U.S. bond yields,
03:21not doubts about Korean earnings, are driving most of this selling, since Samsung and SK Hynix's rising
03:28share of the KOSPI makes them the natural target when foreign funds reduce overall emerging market
03:34risk exposure. Watch early October's Korean export data and Samsung's preliminary third-quarter earnings.
03:42Strategists say the real test isn't whether results beat expectations, but whether they lift
03:48next year's earnings forecasts enough to bring foreign buyers back. This is market context,
03:55not investment advice. What to watch? Samsung's preliminary third-quarter earnings release in
04:01early October, and whether it lifts next-year profit forecasts. Whether October's U.S. inflation
04:08and jobs data support a Fed rate hold in October versus a hike in December. And the November MSCI Korea
04:17index review, where no new stocks currently qualify for inclusion given the market's recent weakness.
04:23That's today's AI Prism, stock investors. This episode was produced with AI assistance based on
04:30Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor. AI Prism is a Juan Efra award-winning
04:38series. We'll be back tomorrow. You've been listening to AI Prism from Seoul Economic Daily.
04:47partnership m
04:47you
04:47plan to
04:47move
04:48one
04:48-
