South Korea stock volatility hits record high amid AI doubts

{"text":[[{"start":8.95,"text":"Asian stocks rebounded from an early sell-off on Wednesday as investor doubts over the future of tech earnings drove volatility in South Korea’s stock market to a record high."}],[{"start":18.95,"text":"South Korea’s Kospi benchmark rose 3.9 per cent after falling as much as 1.5 per cent earlier in the day."}],[{"start":26.65,"text":"Trading of chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which make up the bulk of the index, was also choppy. Samsung shares rose more than 8 per cent after falling as much as 3.2 per cent, while SK Hynix gained 1 per cent after dropping as much as 4.5 per cent."}],[{"start":44.349999999999994,"text":"In Taiwan, shares of chipmaker TSMC fell more than 4 per cent after an AI sell-off on Wall Street that was sparked in part by concerns that the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates. The country’s Taiex closed down 2.2 per cent."}],[{"start":60.89999999999999,"text":"Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were flat during Asian trading, while yields on 10-year US government bonds were steady at 4.49 per cent. The dollar edged up 0.1 per cent against a basket of key trading partners. "}],[{"start":77.69999999999999,"text":"On Tuesday in the US, shares of Nvidia slipped by more than 4 per cent. Those for Intel and Micron dropped 6.1 per cent and 13.2 per cent, respectively."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":88.64999999999999,"text":"Volatility in the Kospi hit a record high, with moves in the market intensified by the growing popularity of single-stock leveraged exchange traded funds among retail investors."}],[{"start":100.05,"text":"“These single-name leveraged ETFs just amplify volatility,” said Song Zhe, a senior investment specialist at BNP Paribas Asset Management. "}],[{"start":109.89999999999999,"text":"South Korea introduced leveraged ETFs tied to popular stocks such as Samsung and SK Hynix in late May. On Monday, Lee Chan-jin, head of the Financial Supervisory Service, expressed regret for an ETF rollout that he said had been done “in a hurry”."}],[{"start":124.99999999999999,"text":"In the US, the Fed held rates last week, but new chair Kevin Warsh dropped the central bank’s longstanding bias towards easing rates at his first meeting."}],[{"start":134,"text":"One area of investor concern was that as US AI companies ran out of free cash flow, they would increasingly turn to debt markets to finance their enormous spending plans, said BNP’s Song."}],[{"start":144.9,"text":"Such a move will tie their cost of capital directly to moves in US rates and government bond markets."}],[{"start":152.6,"text":"“People may start to worry about the impact of Fed rate hikes on US hyperscaler capex plans,” said Song."}],[{"start":167.20000000000002,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782289988_1195.mp3"}