Hollow August' Will It Be a Recovery Period for July's Unexplained Decline? | Baek In-jae Deputy Center Head

In this episode, Deputy Center Head Baek In-jae and long-term investment evangelist Choi Byung-guk discuss the recent market turmoil caused by a hedge fund liquidation, the outlook for KOSPI recovery, and key catalysts for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Baek argues that supply-demand factors have cleaned up, setting the stage for a KOSPI bounce to at least 7,400, and highlights Samsung’s shareholder return and foundry turnaround as strong bullish drivers. Choi emphasizes discipline and long-term holding through extreme fear. - A leveraged hedge fund liquidation triggered severe sell-offs and circuit breakers in the Korean market in late July. - Samsung Electronics outlined plans to use 50% of 91 trillion won retained earnings for shareholder return, while its foundry business turns profitable with LTAs from Big Tech. - SK Hynix is expected to announce shareholder return details once its ADR quiet period ends, providing a near-term catalyst. - Leveraged ETF positions and individual credit balances have been sharply reduced, improving supply-demand conditions for a rebound. - Morgan Stanley issued a KOSPI 9,000 target and lifted Samsung’s target to 381,000 won, matching its prior all-time high. - Most brokerages see at least a dead-cat bounce in KOSPI to 7,400, with Elliott Wave analysis suggesting a possible bounce to 6,835–7,809. - Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rebounded in July purely on flows, with no fundamental backing, while Korea’s fundamentals remain undervalued. - Choi Byung-guk advocates buying during extreme fear and holding fundamentally sound companies for the long term, citing his own experience with Hyundai Motor preferred shares.