[Good Morning Market] US Stock Market Weakness Centered on Tech Stocks... KOSPI Expected to Start Slightly Lower

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] On the 13th, the KOSPI is expected to start slightly lower. Last week, profit-taking selling centered on tech stocks in the New York stock market is expected to weigh on the domestic stock market.

On the 10th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 33,869.27, up 169.39 points (0.50%) from the previous session. The S&P 500 index rose 8.96 points (0.22%) to 4,090.46 compared to the previous session. In contrast, the Nasdaq index, which is tech stock-centered, closed down 71.46 points (0.61%) at 11,718.12.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On that day, the New York stock market started lower due to profit-taking selling, but a solid consumer sentiment index led to a rebound buying sentiment, with the Dow Jones rising. The February consumer sentiment index recorded 66.4, the highest in 13 months, improving from 64.9 in the previous month. In particular, positive news such as BOA announcing improved January consumption through card sales also had an impact.

However, with the one-year expected inflation rising, interest rates surged, and as a result, profit-taking selling emerged mainly in tech stocks that had driven the rise, causing the Nasdaq to fall. The University of Michigan's median one-year expected inflation rose to 4.2% from 3.9% the previous month.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Korea Index Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) fell 0.38%. Accordingly, the KOSPI is expected to start slightly lower. Seosangyoung, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "The decline centered on tech stocks in the New York stock market is a burden on the domestic stock market, but BOA's announcement of the possibility of increased consumption in January will have a positive impact," adding, "This is because it can alleviate concerns about an accelerated economic contraction due to the consumption slowdown at the end of last year."

However, researcher Seosangyoung said, "The sluggishness of Tesla and Nvidia increases the likelihood of profit-taking selling mainly in related stocks that had a large increase compared to the beginning of the year, which is a burden," and "Considering this, the domestic stock market is expected to start slightly lower and then show sector differentiation and fluctuate around the flat zone ahead of the release of major U.S. economic indicators."

Han Jiyoung, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "Although the earnings season for leading domestic and international companies and large-cap stocks has passed, this week, earnings events for major companies in Korea and the U.S., such as Pearl Abyss, Wemade, and Coca-Cola, are also pending," emphasizing, "Compared to January, when stock prices were rather resilient due to optimistic expectations of macro environment changes despite earnings shocks, the current atmosphere has somewhat changed, so if these companies' earnings are worse than expected, it is necessary to be cautious about the possibility of a different stock price pattern than in January."

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