Morgan Stanley: Korean stocks' sharp decline is only a short-term correction, maintaining a target of 9,000 points

Gold Financial reports that on June 24th, Morgan Stanley judged that the sharp decline of the Korea Composite Index (KOSPI) on Tuesday was only a temporary correction and would not develop into a sustained deep downward trend. FactSet data shows that the KOSPI fell about 10% that day, marking the largest single-day drop since March and ranking as the sixth-largest single-day decline in the index's history. Korean stocks significantly underperformed other major Asian markets on Tuesday, mainly because the index has a high weighting in the memory chip sector, and the global semiconductor sell-off directly led to a sharp decline in the heavyweight stocks.
Morgan Stanley analyst Joon Seok stated in a client report on Tuesday that the fundamentals of the memory chip sector have not materially deteriorated, and the losses from this round of decline are only a short-term phenomenon. “We characterize this adjustment as a pause during an upward trend, rather than a breakdown of the market trend.” The recent correction in Korean stocks stems from the previous large gains, with strong profit-taking demand among investors. FactSet statistics show that the KOSPI's cumulative increase in the second quarter exceeded 62%, and the year-to-date increase is close to 95%, indicating that after a long-term bullish run, market momentum has been exhausted.
Joon Seok believes that Korean stocks are not yet in a bear market condition; this decline is only temporary market hesitation as investors wait for clearer signals from Federal Reserve policies and the AI industry outlook. He predicts that in the second half of 2026, the overall volatility of the KOSPI will be significantly higher than in the first half, but the target price of 9,000 points remains, with nearly 10% upside potential from Tuesday’s closing level. At Wednesday’s opening, the KOSPI rose 1.9%, Samsung Electronics increased 4%, and SK Hynix rose 3%.
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