U.S. technology stocks strengthen amid AI rally, including Nvidia
Korean tech and semiconductor stocks lack global influence
The bio industry has a lot of good news, including interest rate cuts.
“Expectations for further growth in the short term are high.”
Photo = Getty Image Bank This year, most of the top overseas stock exchange fund (ETF) returns were found to be investment products in tech stocks, including the ‘Magnificent 7’ (seven giant technology companies). In Korea, ETFs related to defense, finance, and bio stocks had relatively high returns.
According to FnGuide, a financial information company, on the 21st, the return rate of ‘ACE US Big Tech TOP7 Plus Leverage (Synthetic)’ among overseas stock ETFs from the beginning of this year to the 18th of this month was the highest at 95.8%. This ETF focuses on investing in the top 7 big tech stocks, including AI leader Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft (MS), and Alphabet. The inclusion rate of these stocks alone amounts to 95%.
In addition, foreign stock ETFs that invest in tech stocks posted high returns. ‘PLUS US Tech TOP 10Leverage (89.51%, 2nd place)’ ‘KOSEF Global AI Semiconductor(50.48%, 5th place) ‘ACE Global Semiconductor TOP4PlusSOLACTIVE (49.68%, 6th place)’ ‘TIMEFOLIO Global AI Artificial Intelligence Active(48.8%, 7th place).
Analysis suggests that the reason for the strong performance of overseas tech and semiconductor ETFs, unlike domestic ones, is the difference in global competitiveness of related companies. Not only is there no company in Korea that can join the AI rally, but even Samsung Electronics, which accounts for a large portion of the stock market, has not been able to jump on the bandwagon.
“Overseas big tech and semiconductor companies are exerting global influence,” said Yeom Jeong-in, deputy director of ETF Marketing at Korea Investment Trust Management. “These companies are leading technological innovation and securing competitiveness in the global market.” He continued, “On the other hand, in the case of Korea, except for some companies such as SK Hynix, which have the influence to dominate the world, their influence is somewhat weaker than that of global companies, so scalability is relatively limited.”
In Korea, the returns of defense, bio, and finance ETFs were notable. Among domestic stock ETFs during the same period,PLUS K Defense Industry‘The rate of return was the highest at 65.97%. In addition, ETFs made up of financial stocks accounted for four of the top 10 returns. Specifically, ‘TIGER Bank‘High Dividend Plus TOP 10’ recorded 48.43% and ‘RISE 200Finance (42.26%)’ ‘TIGER 200 ‘Finance (41.85%)’ and ‘TIGER 200 Bank (41.67%)’ were counted.
In the case of banking stocks, it is analyzed that earnings continued to increase due to loan growth in a high interest rate environment and expectations of increased shareholder return through the value-up program led to the rise in stock prices. Hana Securities estimated the total net profit of eight financial holding companies, including Industrial Bank of Korea, in the third quarter of this year to be KRW 6.1 trillion, up 14.9% from the same period last year. This is higher than the market consensus (average estimate of securities companies) of about 5.9 trillion won.
Choi Jeong-wook, a researcher at Hana Securities, said, “Expectations may grow further as most banks announce plans to enhance shareholder value in their value-up disclosures to be announced in the third quarter earnings season.” He added, “In the market, the value-up index of KB Financial Group and Hana Financial Group is expected to increase. “As the demand for inclusion is strong, there is a high possibility of it being included in the index during the year-end rebalancing (asset redistribution) process,” he emphasized.
The returns of bio ETFs are also notable. ‘TIGER KOSDAQ 150Biotech’s return was 53.27%, ranking third among all ETFs. In addition, ‘KoAct Bio Healthcare Active‘ and ‘TIMEPOLIO K Bioactive’ rose 42.57% and 38.8%, respectively.
With the advent of interest rate cuts starting with the U.S. Central Bank’s (Fed) ‘big cut’ (a 0.5% point cut in the base interest rate) last month, there is an analysis that biotech companies will show improved performance by lowering procurement costs. In addition, it is also positive that various positive factors such as benefiting from the US biosecurity law and approval of new drugs are continuing.
Accordingly, there are predictions that biotech will continue to play a leading role in the domestic stock market in the future. Private Banker (PB), a securities firm, said, “We believe that the bio industry’s additional upside potential is still valid,” and added, “In the case of SK Biopharmaceuticals, it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its innovative epilepsy drug cenobamate four years ago. “It turned into a surplus starting from the quarter, and Alteogen has very high performance visibility,” he predicted.
Byun Jun-ho, a researcher at IBK Investment & Securities, said, “The bio industry has shown clear strength in the market recently and is already playing a leading role.” He added, “The bio industry continues to have macroeconomic characteristics, expectations for improvement in industry conditions, and stock price momentum (upside potential). “There are high expectations for further growth in the short term,” he said.
Go Jeong-sam, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]
