South Korean stocks have erased the slide triggered by the Iran war, driven by a rally in chipmakers as escalating US–Iran tensions bring the artificial intelligence trade back into investor focus. The Kospi climbed as much as 1.2% Monday to more than 6,200, with memory firms Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. the biggest boosts. The benchmark is up nearly 50% this year, making it one of th...
South Korean stocks have erased the slide triggered by the Iran war, driven by a rally in chipmakers as escalating US–Iran tensions bring the artificial intelligence trade back into investor focus. The Kospi climbed as much as 1.2% Monday to more than 6,200, with memory firms Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. the biggest boosts. The benchmark is up nearly 50% this year, making it one of the world’s best-performing equity markets. Korean shares have mounted a sharp turnaround from the early days of the Middle East conflict, when surging oil prices triggered a historic selloff in the energy import-dependent market and pushed it to the brink of a bear market. Since then, sentiment has stabilized on fundamental improvements across semiconductor and industrials, prompting Goldman Sachs to lift its Kospi target to 8,000. South Korea’s “equity market is fundamentally driven by global semiconductors and investment in power infrastructure and defense, rather than episodic geopolitical or energy shocks,” said Gary Tan , a fund manager at Allspring Global Investments. “With memory pricing still elevated and global AI and power‑related capex remaining robust, Korean equities should stay well supported into year‑end.” SK Hynix shares jumped as much as 3.4% on Korea Exchange ahead of its earnings this week, after saying it has begun production a next-generation memory module designed for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform. It plans to closely collaborate with Nvidia to solve bottlenecks in AI infrastructure and provide optimal performance. Samsung Electronics’ results earlier this month provided some reassurance for investors. The chipmaker posted an eightfold jump in quarterly profit, underscoring robust demand and allaying concerns that the US‑Iran conflict would dent spending on AI hardware. “Korea and Taiwan have benefited from strong earnings momentum in their technology sectors,” said Jarrid Klug , senior equity portfolio manager at DWS Group. “Growth in other regions has...
FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic comments Kanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments. Swiss football club FC Basel, which is resp...
FC Basel and Polish stadium stop US rapper’s upcoming shows, after similar cancellations in France and UK over antisemitic comments Kanye West’s upcoming concerts in Poland and Switzerland have been cancelled, as a growing number of European countries have stopped or postponed the US rapper’s performances amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments. Swiss football club FC Basel, which is responsible for concerts and events that take place at its St Jakob-Park ground, told Reuters on Saturday that after reviewing a request for West to perform there in June, it decided against it. Continue reading...
Emerging-market currencies weakened as the dollar and oil prices rose after the re-escalation of US-Iran tensions and a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. The South Korean won led the losses in early Monday trade, falling as much as 1.5% against the greenback, the most in over a month. Its regional peers Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit also slid. Demand for EM currencies waned after renewed tension...
Emerging-market currencies weakened as the dollar and oil prices rose after the re-escalation of US-Iran tensions and a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. The South Korean won led the losses in early Monday trade, falling as much as 1.5% against the greenback, the most in over a month. Its regional peers Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit also slid. Demand for EM currencies waned after renewed tensions and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz risked bringing uncertainty into markets again. The dollar strengthened after weakening for the past three weeks on hopes for an end to the war, while Treasury yields also climbed. “This underscores the fluidity of geopolitical developments and continues to argue for two-way trades,” said Christopher Wong , a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. The won, which had benefited from the earlier positive developments, should see a bigger pullback, he added, while the Taiwan dollar, Indian rupee, baht and the Philippine peso should trade on a softer footing given their sensitivity to oil prices and risk sentiment. Brent crude jumped as much as 7.9% to $97.50 per barrel on Monday.