Trump's tariff announcement, expected to cause KOSPI to open weaker

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) is expected to open weakly on the 24th due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling declaring reciprocal tariffs illegal and President Donald Trump’s announcement of additional tariffs. This reflects the ongoing uncertainty in the global economy caused by President Trump’s tariff policies.

On the previous trading day, the KOSPI briefly surpassed the 5,900-point record high during intraday trading but later narrowed its gains, closing at 5,846.09 points. This was driven by net purchases from individual investors exceeding 1 trillion won, while foreign and institutional investors net sold over 1 trillion won each. After the Supreme Court announced the illegal ruling on “reciprocal tariffs,” market sentiment temporarily eased, but President Trump stated he would not accept the court’s decision and previewed additional tariffs, continuing to cause market unease.

The domestic stock market’s sharp rally was partly reversed by profit-taking sell-offs, and the Kosdaq index also turned downward. Additionally, U.S. stock markets declined across major indices due to negative news related to the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Particularly, traditional industries with long histories faced challenges to their existing business models due to rapid growth in AI technology, which became a source of concern.

The development of AI technology negatively impacted related stocks. After Anthropic released new features for its AI safety tools, concerns in the software sector expanded. Meanwhile, forecasts suggesting that slowing profits from AI in the private credit market could affect collateral values accelerated declines in financial stocks.

Experts assess that despite current uncertainties, the KOSPI remains relatively attractive in terms of fundamentals and valuation compared to other global stock markets. In this context, temporary buying interest is expected to enter during trading, potentially easing the index’s decline. However, given ongoing global economic instability and market uncertainties, investors should remain cautious and closely monitor market developments.