Bank of Korea Releases Revised Q2 GDP Figure This Week

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Korea's Revised Q2 Growth Rate Due; U.S. August Consumer Prices in Focus

- Key points: The Bank of Korea will release the revised figure for second-quarter real gross domestic product growth on the 8th. The advance estimate released in late July came in at 0.6% from the previous quarter, far above the central bank's 0.2% projection, and with semiconductor exports still strong, whether the revised reading changes is the key question. On nominal second-quarter GDP growth, which will be released the same day, BOK Governor Shin Hyun-song has said the figure is expected to come in considerably high. The U.S. August consumer price index, due on the 11th, is forecast to rise 3.4% from a year earlier, and the European Central Bank will decide its policy rate on the 10th.

2. "6,500-7,000 Is the Floor; Approach With Staggered Buying"

- Key points: Lim Tae-hyuk, executive director of the ETF management division at Samsung Asset Management, said the 6,500-7,000 range on the KOSPI would act as a support level barring a global shock. His basis is valuation. Bloomberg-compiled 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratios stand at about 20 times for the United States and Taiwan, 16 times for Japan and 11 times for China, while Korea's falls short of five times. Lim said KOSPI companies excluding Samsung Electronics (005930) and SK hynix (000660) are also expected to earn about 50% more this year than last, and recommended accumulating positions gradually through benchmark index exchange-traded funds such as those tracking the KOSPI 200 rather than specific sectors.

3. Foreigners, Institutions and Retail Investors Alike: The KOSPI Nobody Is Buying

- Key points: With the KOSPI stuck in a range around the 6,000 level, buying by all major investor groups has weakened at once. According to the Korea Exchange, retail investors, foreign investors and institutions sold a net 2.915 trillion won, 1.8705 trillion won and 81.3 billion won, respectively, through the 4th of this month, while the KOSPI fell 1.95% over the same period. Other corporations, by contrast, were alone in buying, with net purchases of 4.8895 trillion won, largely because share buybacks by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are counted as purchases by that category. Kang Jin-hyuk, an analyst at Shinhan Securities, said a shift to buying by foreign investors is needed given that share buybacks are not a driver of index upside.

4. A Korea-U.S. Chip Fight in Three Years That Could Loom Larger Than Tariff Pressure

- Key points: When SK hynix's packaging plant in Indiana goes into full operation in the second half of 2029, the structure is in place for Korean and U.S. firms to compete on high-bandwidth memory supply on American soil. Samsung Electronics will also bring the first Taylor foundry plant, which will produce Tesla's AI5 chip, online within the year, and will break ground on a second plant late this year for mass production in 2030. Behind the U.S. push to draw in Korean firms is an intent to produce cutting-edge chips domestically amid the U.S.-China contest for artificial intelligence supremacy. The administration led by U.S. President Donald Trump has moved to support domestic companies, including spending $8.9 billion (12.0106 trillion won) last year to acquire a 9.9% stake in Intel.

5. SpaceX, This Year's Favorite Among Korean Investors in Overseas Stocks, Nears Its Listing Price: Can It Clear the Lockup Expiry?

- Key points: SpaceX shares closed at $147.95 on the 4th, approaching the $150 price of their first trading day. With the stock rebounding despite a large-scale lockup expiry that began on the 6th of last month, some have raised an "overhang paradox" argument that a larger float stimulates inflows of passive money. On Wall Street, views are split: Oppenheimer raised its target price to $280, while seven firms including Morningstar and UBS maintained sell or neutral ratings. According to the Korea Securities Depository, Korean investors held $2.41324 billion worth of SpaceX as of the 3rd, ranking 19th overall, while net purchases over the past month totaled $315.83 million, the largest of any holding.

6. Hana Securities Taps Overseas Capital, Eyeing 7 Trillion Won in Equity and a Spot Above Kiwoom

- Key points: Hana Securities is pursuing a $300 million (about 411 billion won) issue of dollar-denominated hybrid capital securities, the first such overseas offering by a Korean brokerage. It has signed underwriting agreements with Citigroup Global Markets Securities, JP Morgan and BNP Paribas, and is expected to begin investor marketing on the 7th and conduct book-building late this month. Hana Securities, whose equity capital stood at 6.7172 trillion won on a separate basis at the end of the first half, would move past Kiwoom Securities (039490) into seventh place in the industry if the issue succeeds. The deal would also narrow the gap to the 8 trillion won in equity capital required to enter the integrated management account business to around 1 trillion won.