The Bank of Korea (BoK) hiked its benchmark interest rate by 25bps to 0.75% yesterday, becoming the first major Asian central bank to begin dialing back pandemic-era monetary stimulus. The move was somewhat contentious, with one…
The performance of Korean stocks has deteriorated since the beginning of August and the MSCI Korea equity index (in USD) recently broke down decisively below its 200-day moving average. Further weakness cannot be ruled out…
BCA Research’s Emerging Markets Strategy service recommends that investors overweight the KOSPI within an EM equity portfolio. Korean share prices have been moving sideways in recent months. Margin loans for security…
Highlights We continue to recommend that dedicated EM equity portfolio investors overweight Korean equities. Overweighting the KOSPI within an EM equity portfolio is in line with our long-term theme of favoring global industrial…
South Korea’s exports suggest that the global trade recovery is intact. Exports surged 45.4% y/y for the first 20 days in April following a 12.5% y/y increase in March. On an average working day basis, export increased by…
Highlights Market-based geopolitical analysis is about identifying upside as well as downside risk. So far this year upside risks include vaccine efficacy, coordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus, China’s avoidance of over-…
South Korea’s exports for the first 20 days of February are signaling a sharp rebound in global trade. Exports surged 16.7% y/y, marking the fastest pace since late 2018. The global shortage of chips pushed Korea’s…
Since July 2020, the KOSPI index has been among the best performing equity markets worldwide (Chart 1). Will this rally and outperformance continue? The rally in the KOSPI has been due to two factors: (1) improving global growth in…
Korean equities have benefited greatly from booming retail investor demand, which has caused the KOSPI to more than double since mid-March. But the index has been trading sideways since the beginning of the year. What will the…
South Korean equities had a spectacular run in 2020 and are continuing the rally this year, with the KOSPI up another 3% so far. The bourse was a favorite in the early days of the pandemic due to the Korean government’s…