South Korea has claimed the spot of the world's sixth-largest stock market.
We all know this is largely driven by tech, specifically Samsung and SK Hynix. Source: Ayesha Tariq, CFA
SK Hynix has officially joined the $1 TRILLION club.
Shares jumped 11% today, pushing the company’s market capitalization to a record ₩1,624 TRILLION ($1.08 TRILLION). Just one month ago, SK Hynix was worth around $600 BILLION, adding $480 BILLION market value in just 30 DAYS. The stock is now up roughly 240% in 2026 alone. SK Hynix posted record numbers, Q1 2026 revenue ₩52.6 trillion ($36 billion) with Operating profit of ₩37.6 trillion ($27 billion). SK Hynix has become one of the biggest winners of the AI era as demand for HBM chips used in Nvidia AI GPUs keeps surging. Source: Bull Theory
Japan's Core Inflation Hits Four-Year Low of 1.4% in April
Core inflation, excluding fresh food but including energy, rose 1.4% year-on-year, down from 1.8% in March and below the 1.7% forecast, driven by government subsidies on fuel and school tuition. This marks the third straight month below the BOJ's 2% target—the slowest since March 2022—and follows the bank's April rate hike to 0.75%, its highest since 1995. Free school lunches played a role, but a slowing was widespread. Full impact of War yet to be felt but the deceleration in inflation should keep BoJ gradual in hiking. Markets saw a milder yen and bond support, though analysts predict a rebound as subsidies fade and Middle East tensions lift fuel costs. Source: Bloomberg
Samsung and SK Hynix now account for ~13% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the benchmark for more than $1 TRILLION in assets under management.
SK Hynix alone now commands a weighting equivalent to Tencent and Alibaba combined, after more than doubling in market value this year. Together with TSMC, the 3 chipmakers account for more than 25% of the entire index and have contributed over 70% of its gains so far in 2026. This is reminiscent of late 2020, when Chinese companies accounted for more than 40% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. When Chinese stocks peaked in February 2021 and subsequently collapsed, the broader EM index entered a 15-16 month bear market, falling ~50% from peak to trough. Even emerging market indexes are extremely concentrated. Source: Global markets Investors, Bloomberg Opinion
BLOODBATH IN SOUTH KOREA.
KOSPI hit a new ATH of 8,000 today and then crashed 8.4% in the same session, wiping ₩509 Trillion ($370 billion) in 6 hours. Samsung, which makes up 42% of the entire index, crashed 8.61% Source: Bull Theory
Japan Producer Prices Jump by Most Since 2014, Backing BOJ Hike
Source: Bloomberg
Japan's 20Y bond yield rises as high as 3.511%, highest since 1996 as global interest rates go vertical
With the long bond over 5% and the 10yr dancing around 4.50%, maybe it is worth to have a look at it again... Kantro had nice look back at the median weekly stock returns versus yields - see chart below. Source: Kantro, RBC
Another day and another new all-time high for Korea Kospi with Samsung and Hynix again on fire.
AI memory changed the rankings fast. Samsung Electronics is now a $1T+ company. SK Hynix is sitting near JPMorgan by market cap. Korea is not a side story in AI anymore. Source: koreanstockguy on X
