Asian stock markets faced dual headwinds on July 7, with both technology and shipping stocks sinking under heavy selling pressure. South Korea’s chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw their stock prices fall despite reporting stunning profits and launching a U.S. listing process, dragging the KOSPI index down more than 4%. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Evergreen Group was hit by an insider trading scandal, with founder Chang Yung-fa’s eldest son Chang Kuo-hua released on a record NT$120 million (approximately $3.7 million) bail. Group stocks fell across the board, with EVA Air plunging over 6% to become the session’s weakest sector.<\/p>\n
Asian memory chip stocks pulled back collectively, reflecting growing market concerns about the sustainability of AI demand. Samsung Electronics released preliminary second-quarter results showing operating profit reached \u20a989.4 trillion (approximately $58.7 billion), a staggering 1,810% surge from the same period last year, yet its stock price bucked the trend and plunged more than 6%. SK Hynix also fell over 4% as the company officially launched its American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program in the U.S., with an issuance size of approximately $28 billion (about NT$900 billion), expected to list on the Nasdaq on July 10, which would rank among the top three largest IPOs in global history.<\/p>\n
Morgan Stanley highlighted the market’s core contradiction in its latest report: the current memory chip market is approaching a “peak rate of change,” but this does not equate to the end of the cycle. The report analyzed that the resale of idle AI computing power and enterprises’ pursuit of token minimization are suppressing short-term demand momentum. Morgan Stanley warned that due to extremely crowded market positioning, related stocks will face high volatility around earnings announcements, but remains bullish on the long-term outlook, forecasting 35% to 40% industry profit growth in 2027.<\/p>\n
The selling pressure on memory chip stocks spread to Hong Kong, where GigaDevice Semiconductor (03986.HK) and Montage Technology (06809.HK) plunged more than 8% and 7% respectively. Leveraged ETFs offering two-times long exposure to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both plummeted over 15%.<\/p>\n
In Taiwan, the Evergreen Group insider trading case sent shockwaves through the market. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office dispatched investigators to 10 locations on July 6, searching Evergreen Marine (2603.TW), Panama-registered Evergreen International, Evergreen International Corp., and other sites, summoning Chang Kuo-hua, his brother Chang Kuo-cheng, and Evergreen veteran executive Ko Li-ching, among nine individuals, for questioning. In the early hours of July 7, prosecutors ordered Chang Kuo-hua released on NT$120 million (approximately $3.7 million) bail for violating the Securities and Exchange Act, with restrictions on residence, overseas travel, and mobile phone monitoring. Chang Kuo-cheng was released on NT$10 million (approximately $312,080) bail.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors are investigating that Evergreen Marine’s board of directors resolved to sell EVA Air (2618.TW) shares on June 19, 2023, but the company did not issue a material announcement until August 14 and 21 of the same year. Chang Kuo-hua, his wife, and son allegedly purchased more than 170,000 shares of Evergreen Marine stock before the public disclosure, generating notional profits exceeding NT$2.1 billion (approximately $65.5 million). Based on Evergreen Marine’s closing price of NT$195.5 on July 6, with each share rising NT$88, estimated paper gains exceed NT$15 billion (approximately $468.1 million).<\/p>\n
When leaving the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, Chang Kuo-hua responded to media questions in Taiwanese Hokkien, saying “Where is it?” denying involvement in insider trading. Evergreen Marine issued a statement saying it fully cooperated with the investigation during the search process, and that the company’s operations remain normal with no impact on its financials or business.<\/p>\n
Market observers noted that short-term stock price volatility for Evergreen Group-related stocks is inevitable, but ultimately the focus must return to company fundamentals. Notably, Yang Ming Marine Transport (2609.TW) and Wan Hai Lines (2615.TW), though not implicated in the case, both fell approximately 2%, indicating that market confidence in the container shipping sector has been affected.<\/p>\n
From a fundamental perspective, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) has risen for ten consecutive weeks. Freight rates from the Far East to the U.S. West Coast reached $6,630 per FEU (approximately NT$210,000), up 9.27% week-on-week, while rates from the Far East to the U.S. East Coast hit $8,296 per FEU (approximately NT$270,000), up 12.35% week-on-week. The freight rate surge is primarily driven by U.S. retailers aggressively pulling forward shipments to build inventory ahead of new tariffs expected under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Goldman Sachs maintains an optimistic view on South Korea’s stock market, forecasting the KOSPI index has more than 20% upside over the next 12 months, with a target of 12,000 points. Goldman Sachs expects the rally to broaden from AI chip manufacturers to sectors including energy, materials, and industrials, and forecasts South Korean corporate profits will surge 320% in 2026, with another 35% growth in 2027.<\/p>\n
U.S. stocks closed higher on July 6, led by chip stocks, with the S&P 500 rising 0.72%, the Nasdaq jumping 1.12%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at a record high of 53,055.91 points. However, U.S. stock index futures pulled back in early Asian trading, with Nasdaq 100 futures falling 0.4%, suggesting Monday’s Wall Street rebound may be short-lived.<\/p>\n
In international oil markets, Brent crude rose 0.4% to approximately $72.25 per barrel, primarily after a tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting transportation risks along this critical waterway. Amid rising risk aversion, the Japanese yen remained weak against the U.S. dollar at around the 162.15 level, with hedge funds’ bearish bets on the yen reaching their highest since 2007.<\/p>\n
The BlackRock Investment Institute team noted that markets are gradually pricing in AI’s ability to transform today’s scarcity into tomorrow’s abundance, expecting AI to boost productivity and growth sufficient to support current extraordinary profit levels. However, with Samsung’s stock plunging after releasing stunning earnings, investors have clearly shifted their focus to the longer-term memory cycle trajectory rather than short-term profit figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asian stock markets faced dual headwinds on July 7, with both technology and shipping stocks sinking under heavy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[4286,41973,41974,41972,41975,19709,3511,41976,3535,127,276,223,275,41977],"class_list":["post-77585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-samsung","tag-ai-memory-chips","tag-chang-kuo-hua","tag-eva-air","tag-evergreen-marine","tag-gigadevice-semiconductor","tag-insider-trading","tag-kospi-index","tag-montage-technology","tag-morgan-stanley","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-electronics","tag-samsung-group","tag-sk-hynix","tag-taipei-district-prosecutors-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}