[Good Morning Stock Market] "Kospi Maintains Upward Trend Amid Fluctuations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Joo-yeon] Although the stock market is fluctuating due to the impact of COVID-19, the securities industry still expects the overall trend to be 'upward.'

◆ Sangyoung Seo, Kiwoom Securities Researcher = On the 13th, the Korean stock market declined due to a sharp increase in confirmed cases following China's revision of its COVID-19 statistical methods. Additionally, the options expiration date is estimated to have had some influence on supply and demand factors.

Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market closed slightly down as the COVID-19 issue did not trigger panic, and reassurance flowed in due to the Chinese government's active explanations, which reduced the extent of the decline and even led to a successful rebound. This is positive for the stock market as it alleviated the factors behind the previous day's decline in the Korean stock market.

However, the U.S. administration announced a lack of confidence in information coming from China, and Larry Kudlow, Chairman of the White House National Economic Council, remarked that "China's transparency is not good," which remains a concern.

◆ Yonggu Kim, Hana Financial Investment Researcher = Next week, the domestic stock market is expected to show a neutral-level price movement as it attempts to stabilize the KOSPI around the 2200 mark.

There is active effort to recover market losses, moving one step closer to the pre-COVID-19 stock price levels. This is the result of key catalysts overcoming the COVID-19 panic, including expectations of Chinese policy stimulus around early March's Two Sessions, the historic record rally of the U.S. stock market led by new 4th industrial revolution technology stocks such as Tesla, and a supply-demand environment for February expiration stocks that is above neutral.

Next week, market attention is expected to focus on China's policy response aimed at turning adversity into opportunity.

◆ Donggil Noh, NH Investment & Securities Researcher = On the previous day, major Asian stock markets experienced increased volatility due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus. This was influenced by a significant rise in deaths and confirmed cases in Hubei Province, the epicenter. While the stock market had previously interpreted the decline in confirmed and suspected cases positively, renewed increases in infections and reports of spread in neighboring countries such as Japan weakened risk asset preference sentiment. However, the sharp rise in confirmed cases is largely due to Chinese health authorities expanding the scope of those considered infected.

Chinese health authorities and experts expect the peak of the increase in confirmed cases to pass by the end of February. The stock market is unlikely to reverse the gains made so far. Although the KOSPI may experience some volatility, it is expected to maintain an upward trend due to the global economic recovery and upward revisions in earnings estimates for the semiconductor sector.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.