SKEPTICISM:
The TAIEX ended down 2.31 percent at 45,479.11, as investors moved funds out of the electronics sector due to valuation and geopolitics-related worries
Bloomberg
Asian tech stocks slumped yesterday as investors used Samsung Electronics Co’s results to lock in profits on a stellar year-to-date chip rally, rotating into unloved sectors less prone to earnings shocks. Preliminary operating income at the world’s largest memory chipmaker surged 19-fold to 89.4 trillion won (US$59.12 billion) in the second quarter on booming demand for memory chips needed in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, dwarfing the company’s performance for all of last year. Analysts on average had projected 84.2 trillion won. Revenue more than doubled to 171 trillion won, also beating expectations. Samsung shares yesterday slid as much as 10 percent in Seoul, dragging down peers including South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc and Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp. An MSCI Inc gauge of Asian technology stocks dropped as much as 4.9 percent.
The Samsung logo is pictured at its Seocho building in Seoul yesterday.
