TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stock markets stage a strong rebound, with the KOSPI and Nikkei 225 both surging over 3%, Kioxia skyrocketing over 17%, and SK Hynix, Samsung, and SoftBank rising 4%-6%.
During the Asian trading session on July 21, after Japanese and South Korean stock markets experienced brief volatility in early trading due to geopolitical shocks, they staged an extremely strong "revenge rally" throughout the day. Among them, the KOSPI Index surged 3.56%, breaking through the 6,500 mark to stand temporarily at 6,747.96 points; Samsung Electronics jumped 6.56%, just reclaiming the 260,000 won mark; SK Hynix rose 4.71% to close above 1.8 million won, at 1,847,000 won.
KOSPI Index chart, source: TradingView
The KOSPI Index pulled back slightly in late trading, while the Nikkei 225 Index climbed further, showing even greater strength to close up 3.26% at 66,232.19 points; Kioxia surged 17.18%, recouping losses from the previous session and remaining above the 60,000 mark to stand at 61,060 yen; SoftBank rose 6.03% to close at 5,751 yen.
Today's strong rally in Japanese and South Korean stock markets confirms that the panic selling previously triggered by geopolitics and overheated AI valuations has been temporarily released. However, for the market to fully establish a medium-to-long-term bullish trajectory, close attention must still be paid to the safety of the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane and whether oil prices remain within a controllable range.
In addition, attention should also be paid to the U.S. earnings season, especially this week's Alphabet ( GOOG ), Tesla ( TSLA ), Intel ( INTC) and other tech giants' capital expenditure guidance, to see whether it can sustain the strong demand in the AI industry.