It is a common voice of Yeouido stocks that the Korean stock market does not show any significant upside momentum after the Lunar New Year holiday. Experts predict that the uptrend itself will not break down easily, but for the time being around 3100, there is a high likelihood that there will be an unnoticed correction market, and foreign funds are the main variable.
Kim Young-hwan, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, “KOSPI has a price burden, so it is not easy to expect a sharp increase in the short term.” Lee Kyung-min, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, “Even though the US stock market surged last month, the KOSPI has been falling and rising for the fourth week on a weekly basis.” “More than 80% of 184 US Standard & Poor’s 500 companies exceeded market forecast But, out of 106 KOSPI companies, only 43.4% of the companies exceeded the market’s operating profit forecast until the first week of this month.”
Another variable is the decline in the won’s value due to foreign investors’ profit-taking sales volume and large-scale futures sales. In addition, the direction of liquidity management of the People’s Bank, the central bank of China, is expected to affect foreign investment sentiment. Investors’ eyes are bound to focus on the sector with growth potential.
There are many points to watch the stock market, but the shortage of automotive semiconductors that will continue throughout the year is a major concern for investors. The shortage of automotive semiconductors is a shadow of the Korean automobile market. Investors’ eyes are on the stock prices of semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor equipment and solution companies.
Representatively, TSMC in Taiwan and NXP in the Netherlands, a semiconductor chip manufacturer for automobiles and communications. In Korea, in addition to large-cap stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, SFA Semiconductor is also attracting attention. SFA Semiconductor is a company that provides semiconductor packaging solution services (semiconductor assembly and testing, etc.) to global semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron.
The automotive semiconductor market is worth 40 billion dollars annually. Hana Financial Investment expects to grow at an annual average of 7% over the next five years, considering the current demand for eco-friendly vehicles as well as internal combustion engine vehicles. According to Reuters on the 3rd (local time), General Motors (GM), a leading US car manufacturer, has produced vehicles at three factories including Fairfax, Kansas, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, from the 8th of this month. After temporarily suspending production, the Bupyeong 2 plant in Korea cut production by half.
GM internally issued a guideline to secure a year’s worth of semiconductors for vehicles and worked hard, but in the end, it was swept away by the semiconductor turmoil. Reuters said, “GM is a company that is hit hardest by the automotive semiconductor crisis.”
“The shortage of semiconductors will affect vehicle production this year,” said GM spokesman David Banas. “We are working closely with the semiconductor supply chain to minimize the impact.” Meanwhile, it is reported that Mazda of Japan is also considering a plan to reduce the total production of 34,000 vehicles in February and March. Major automakers such as Volkswagen, Ford, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, and Stellaantis have already cut production.
Not only companies but also governments have launched. The governments of major countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany are requesting the Taiwanese government, which has TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry (consignment production), to secure the supply of semiconductors for vehicles.
Market analyst IHS Markit said, “The shortage of automotive semiconductors will continue until the third quarter of this year (July-September).” “The world’s automobile production in the first quarter of this year (January-March) will decrease by 672,000 units than expected.” Estimated. Meanwhile, Autoforcast Solutions estimates that the automobile industry cuts 564,000 units so far, and a total of 964,000 units will be cut this year.
It is inevitable for foundries such as TSMC, as Apple and other companies raise semiconductor prices higher than companies such as Ford and GM.
In an interview with Bloomberg, researcher Jeff Fu of GF Securities in Shenzhen, China, said, “Manufacturers of electronic products such as consumer electronics and smartphones are ready to pay more to get semiconductors delivered on time so that they can sell their products to the market on time. “Companies,” he pointed out, “On the other hand, automakers have a low tendency to do that.”
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