Domestic stock market volatility continues... Why should we increase US stocks more in the second half? | Park Hyun-ji, Yeo Do-eun, Heo Jae-mu [Morning N Investment]

Summary

Park Hyun-ji (Manager) discusses Korean market volatility, the impact of single-stock leveraged ETFs, and the need for rebalancing toward US equities and global diversification. She recommends overweighting US stocks over Korea in H2, using global semiconductor ETFs instead of concentrated Korean names, buying US covered call and value stocks for stability, and rotating into software ETFs as a satellite theme with specific picks like IGV, WCLD, HACK, WTAI, and MAX. SK Hynix ADR listing is highlighted as a positive catalyst.

• Korean market volatility exacerbated by single-stock leveraged ETFs; regulation may come but timing uncertain.
• Overweight US equities in H2: better fundamentals, improving forward EPS, policy tailwinds, and less downside momentum.
• Replace concentrated Samsung/SK Hynix ETFs with global semiconductor ETFs such as SMH, TIGER Philadelphia Semiconductor, ACE Global Top 4, and Global HBM.
• SK Hynix ADR listing on US exchange seen as a major catalyst akin to TSMC's experience, attracting foreign institutional flows.
• Rebalance by trimming semiconductor exposure and adding US covered call ETFs (e.g., KODEX US Dividend Covered Call) and US value stocks for income and defense.
• Software sector offers diversification with low correlation to hardware; core holding IGV, short-term momentum plays WCLD and HACK, balanced MAX, and AI satellite WTAI.
• Covered call ETFs work best in slowly uptrending or sideways markets, providing high single-digit dividends for reinvestment.
• Cosmetics and banking sectors rose as rotational flows but no explicit buy recommendation.