What Is the Second-Half Investment Strategy, from KOSDAQ to Cosmetics, Shipbuilding, and Batteries? | Park Seung-young, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Asset Strategy Team Leader
What is the investment strategy for the second half of the year, from KOSDAQ to cosmetics, shipbuilding, and batteries? | Park Seung-young, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Asset Strategy Team Leader [Global Interview]
Speakers
Park Seung-young
— Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
Summary
Park Seung-young, team leader at Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Asset Strategy, discusses second-half Korean market strategy after volatility reset. He prefers KOSDAQ over KOSPI, likes cosmetics and shipbuilding on earnings momentum, and argues batteries could become the next leadership sector as semiconductor leadership fades. He emphasizes Samsung Electronics' shareholder return support, advises avoiding leveraged ETFs, and recommends maintaining a 50/50 US-Korea allocation.
- Korean market lows should keep rising as tax policy shifts toward shareholder returns.
- Volatility has normalized, with VKOSPI halving and KOSDAQ credit balances resetting, making KOSDAQ preferred over KOSPI.
- Cosmetics and shipbuilding are the top earnings-driven sectors for the second half.
- Semiconductors remain a core portfolio holding, but leadership is weakening and upside is becoming more shareholder-return driven.
- Samsung Electronics' special dividend and shareholder return policy provide downside support.
- Leveraged ETFs should be avoided because of volatility decay.
- A 50/50 US-Korea equity allocation with regular rebalancing is recommended.
- Korean autos are seen as FX losers, while batteries are flagged as a potential next leader if physical AI demand surprises.
Ideas
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
3:25
Korean market lows should keep rising.
He recommends keeping a 50/50 US-Korea equity allocation and regularly rebalancing: sell what has run up and buy what has lagged. After Korea's year-to-date outperformance, some should rotate toward US equities, while investors underweight Korea should add Korean stocks.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
6:15
Prefer KOSDAQ over KOSPI now.
Volatility has reset: VKOSPI dropped from 90 to 50, circuit-breaker and sidecar events are less frequent, and KOSDAQ credit balances have shrunk to April 2024 levels. With KOSPI large-cap earnings no longer surprising strongly to the upside, the low KOSDAQ level is attractive, and he favors KOSDAQ ETFs or active KOSDAQ ETFs over KOSPI.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
8:54
Buy Korean cosmetics on earnings momentum.
Cosmetics is one of the best earnings plays in the current season: second-quarter results beat modest consensus, export data and tariff base effects continue to help, and momentum remains investable into the third quarter even after short-term price spikes.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
9:16
Buy Korean shipbuilding for order momentum.
Shipbuilding is another earnings-driven sector where consensus was not high, results surprised positively, and additional order momentum is expected later in the second half and toward year-end, so the sector still has investable upside despite its long underperformance.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
11:30
Avoid leveraged ETFs due to volatility decay.
Leveraged ETFs mechanically track volatility and suffer from negative compounding in choppy markets. Single-stock leverage product trading has collapsed, and the market is less leveraged, but he still strongly advises not using leveraged ETFs.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
12:05
Keep core Korean semiconductor exposure.
Semiconductors are no longer the sole explosive leader and their upside character is shifting toward shareholder return, but they still represent about half of Korean market cap and should always occupy a core portfolio weight. Coreweave's strong results also confirm real AI datacenter demand and tight supply.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
12:18
Samsung's shareholder return supports downside.
Samsung Electronics' policy to return 50% of three-year free cash flow to shareholders implies a special dividend likely in January and a dividend yield around 8%, giving the stock clear downside support and gradual upside even if earnings momentum fades.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
18:32
Shareholder return leads Korean market theme.
Korea's tax code now incentivizes shareholder returns over heavy reinvestment, making shareholder return the most important structural theme and investment priority in the Korean market. Samsung's behavior will set the standard for other Korean groups to follow.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
21:27
Maintain 50/50 US-Korea equity allocation.
He recommends keeping a 50/50 US-Korea equity allocation and regularly rebalancing: sell what has run up and buy what has lagged. After Korea's year-to-date outperformance, some should rotate toward US equities, while investors underweight Korea should add Korean stocks.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
26:00
Avoid Korean autos amid stronger won.
Korea's trade surplus is pushing the won stronger, and the same FX/rate environment that supports semiconductors hurts export-sensitive auto makers. Korean autos are unattractive relative to the sectors benefiting from the current macro setup.
Park Seung-young
Portfolio Strategy Team Leader, Hanwha Investment & Securities PLUS Business Division
27:23
Batteries could become next semiconductor leader.
Batteries have cut investment for three years since the 2023 peak, and if physical AI creates unexpected demand, the sector could replay the memory semiconductor supply-demand story. He suggests buying/accumulating while pessimism is extreme and monitoring the sector closely.
Up Next
This 3PRO TV (삼프로TV) video, published August 12, 2026, features Park Seung-young discussing EWY, KOSDAQ, Korean cosmetics, Korean Shipbuilding, Leveraged ETFs, Korean semiconductor sector, 005930.KS, Korea shareholder return theme, SPY, Korean autos, KARS. 11 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers: Park Seung-young · Tickers: EWY, KOSDAQ, Korean cosmetics, Korean Shipbuilding, Leveraged ETFs, Korean semiconductor sector, 005930.KS, Korea shareholder return theme, SPY, Korean autos, KARS