Following the announcement of the government’s introduction of a program to enhance corporate value, stocks with a low price-to-book ratio (PBR) showed strength. Over the past two weeks, foreign investors’ net purchases on the KOSPI surpassed 5 trillion won. While low PBR stocks surged due to foreig
President Yoon Suk-yeol reiterated the importance of adopting a global standard to address the “Korea Discount,” which indicates the undervaluation of the domestic stock market, during his televised speech on Feb. 7. This has sparked increased interest in low price-to-book ratio (PBR) stocks among i
Korea’s current account surplus reached US$35.5 billion in 2023. This was mainly because the volume of goods exports reaching a yearly high at the end of 2023.The current account surplus stood at US$7.41 billion in December, according to a December 2023 provisional balance of payments data released
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com -- Ed.WFG’s CET1 ratio is now at 11.9%. While we positively view y-y improvement in the figure, we believe that CET1 ratio needs to be actively strengthened in order for WFG to meet market expectations for
KG Mobility, once a perennially loss-making company, has returned to profitability last year, driven by increased exports to Europe and Latin America.According to industry and securities market sources on Feb. 6, KG Mobility’s operating income for last year is estimated to be around 5 billion won. T
The Korea Exchange (KRX) announced on Feb. 6 that it will open the “30-Year Treasury Futures Market” from Feb. 19 to promote the advancement of the government bond market and hedge against risks from long-term interest rate fluctuations. This marks the first time in 16 years since the introduction o
Due to the strength of the U.S. dollar, the foreign exchange reserves decreased last month for the first time in three months.According to the statistics of the “Foreign Reserves as of the End of January 2024” publication released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Feb. 5, South Korea’s foreign reserves
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has announced plans to conduct a comprehensive investigation aimed at eradicating the common practice of illegal short selling by global investment banks (IBs).In its business plan announced on Feb. 5, the FSS stated, “We will crack down on market disruptions
Expectations of an increase in the corporate value of domestic listed companies are attracting foreign capital to the South Korean stock market. Particularly, there is a concentrated buying interest in automotive stocks, including Hyundai Motor, and growth stocks in industries such as artificial int
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.While Secretary Yellen's key goal in 2023 was to secure TGA cash despite a massive fiscal deficit, the one for 2024 is to be improving the fiscal balance by using the tax revenue surplus. This implie
Hana Securities announced on Feb. 1 that it is establishing a foreign investment solution team to expand its customer base to non-resident foreigners.Last year, the foreign investor registration system, which had been criticized as one of the obstacles for foreign investors in domestic investments,
The sale of ECORBIT, which is considered the key element in the normalization of Taeyoung Engineering & Construction, is gaining momentum with the selection of lead managers. UBS and Citigroup Global Markets Securities, two global investment banks (IBs), have been assigned the task.According to sour
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at bk@nhqv.com -- Ed.The two terms that defined last year’s stock market were ‘new cold war’ and ‘supply chain reshaping’. In 2024, decoupling between DMs and EMs is to become a new market-defining feature. Today, the US’s bu
The author is an analyst for Shinhan Securities. She can be reached at hpark@shinhan.com -- Ed.4Q23 OP falls short due to inventory adjustments at distributorsAmorepacific posted consolidated operating profit of KRW20.7bn (-64% YoY) on sales of KRW926bn (-15% YoY) for 4Q23, missing our estimate (KRW
The market capitalization gap between South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s TSMC, leading semiconductor companies, has widened over the past year. While TSMC has benefited from rising expectations in AI, South Korean firms are considered undervalued.Data from the global market capitalizatio
Among the seven emerging markets, it has been analyzed that the most significant outflow of foreign funds has occurred in South Korea in the past three months, following China. It is interpreted that foreign investors who withdrew from the Chinese stock market prefer other emerging markets like Viet
SK hynix announced on Jan. 25 that it plans to more than double the production capacity of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) this year compared to the previous year. This move is part of the company’s strategy to capture the new demand from artificial intelligence (AI) applications.This shows the confiden
The global slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) demand has significantly impacted POSCO FUTURE M’s profitability, as reflected in their sharp decline in operating profit last year.On Jan. 23, POSCO FUTURE M announced that its operating profit for the last year was 35.9 billion won (US$26.8 million), a
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at yk.choi@nhqv.com -- Ed.We lower our TP on Hyosung TNC to W440,000 to reflect both a slower-than-expected spandex industry recovery and underperforming fiber division earnings. But, we still see clearly improved fundamental
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jaemin.ahn@nhqv.com -- Ed.Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act abolished 10 years after implementationOn Jan 22, the Korean government announced its decision to abolish three regulations closely related to public liv