Korea becomes market barometer for global AI stock trade

Korea has become an important barometer for the global artificial intelligence (AI) stock trade, industry officials said Monday, as swings in Seoul increasingly reflect shifts in technology sentiment that are playing out across markets from Tokyo and Shanghai to Wall Street. The shift reflects the unusual structure of the Korean market. The KOSPI's heavy weighting toward semiconductor companies, combined with its sensitivity to foreign capital flows, means changes in expectations for AI investment can be reflected in Korean share prices quickly, and sometimes more sharply than elsewhere. That has made Seoul an increasingly important reference point during Asian trading hours. Investors have increasingly treated the Nikkei 225 and the KOSPI as expressions of much the same trade, according to Nikkei Asia. Both indices have substantial exposure to companies tied to AI and semiconductors, while their trading hours largely overlap. The relationship was evident last Wednesday. Stronger-than-expected earnings from Japanese electronics supplier Ibiden initially sent AI and semiconductor-related