Singapore, July 10, 2026, 18:35 (SGT)
Hong Kong and Seoul both rose on Friday, but the week ended with an 11.1-percentage-point gap that told a less bullish story: the Hang Seng gained 3.5%, while South Korea’s KOSPI lost 7.6%. The split was wider inside technology, as the Hang Seng Tech climbed 4.95% while SK Hynix KRX:000660 fell 10.1% and Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 lost 7.9%.
The figures point to a rotation, not a clean return to risk. Taiwan’s cash and derivatives markets were shut because of Typhoon Bavi, leaving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TPE:2330 and the island’s chip complex without a Friday round of price discovery — the process through which trading establishes a market price.
That matters because Korea is unusually top-heavy. Samsung represented 34.39% and Hynix 32.23% of the MSCI Korea Index as of June 30, or 66.62% combined. This is index concentration: a handful of shares can dictate most of a benchmark’s return even when the rest of the market moves less.
| Market | Latest close | Session move |
|---|---|---|
| KOSPI | 7,475.94 | +2.52% |
| Nikkei 225 | 68,557.73 | +1.20% |
| Hang Seng | 24,175.12 | +0.60% |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,996.16 | -1.00% |
| Sensex | 77,569.39 | +1.08% |
| TAIEX | 45,354.61 on Thursday | -0.83% Thursday; closed Friday |
Closing figures were reported by the exchanges and market-data providers after the Asian sessions.
Seoul’s rebound had its own warning signs. The KOSPI rose as much as 5.7%, but a buy-side “sidecar” — a five-minute pause in program purchase orders after a sharp futures move — was triggered for the third time this week. Samsung gained 2.52%, while Hynix slipped 0.27%; Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, said the listing showed “enduring, if not entrenched, AI optimism.” The Edge Malaysia
That optimism appeared more clearly in primary-market demand than in Seoul trading. Hynix priced American depositary receipts, or U.S.-traded certificates representing foreign shares, at $149 and raised about $26.5 billion even as its Korean stock closed 0.3% lower. Hynix trades at about 5.8 times forecast earnings, against roughly 7 times for U.S. peer Micron Technology NASDAQ:MU; “Global semiconductors is the most crowded trade in the world right now,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital. Reuters
| Weekly comparison | Hong Kong | South Korea | Hong Kong lead, percentage points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad market | Hang Seng +3.50% | KOSPI -7.60% | 11.10 |
| Tech versus top memory name | Hang Seng Tech +4.95% | SK Hynix -10.10% | 15.05 |
| Tech versus second memory name | Hang Seng Tech +4.95% | Samsung -7.90% | 12.85 |
Differences are calculated from the weekly changes cited above.
Hong Kong’s relative strength also had a financing backdrop. Chinese technology companies have raised HK$159.34 billion, or $20.33 billion, in the city this year to fund AI, semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing expansion. That gives the move a capital-formation base beyond Friday’s index rebound, though mainland China’s falling market showed the demand was selective.
Japan’s 1.2% advance came from a different source. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government wants pension funds, including the 293.6 trillion yen, or $1.8 trillion, Government Pension Investment Fund, to put “substantially” more money into Japanese assets. The yen and government bonds rallied; Sim Moh Siong, an FX strategist at OCBC, said, “I am not sure if this is a silver bullet,” though the proposal could steady sentiment. Reuters
India offered a modest earnings counterpoint. Tata Consultancy Services NSE:TCS reported quarterly sales of 722.75 billion rupees, ahead of the 720.30 billion-rupee analyst consensus, while annualised AI revenue reached $2.6 billion. Chief Executive K. Krithivasan said he was “optimistic” about a spending recovery in some client industries, but Anshul Jethi at LKP Securities called the performance only “marginally better” and questioned whether it marked a lasting turn. Reuters
But the rotation could break quickly. A weak U.S. trading debut for Hynix, a sharp catch-up move when Taiwan reopens or another oil-driven rise in inflation could push investors back out of crowded chip positions; Brent crude was heading for a gain of about 5% this week as renewed U.S.-Iran fighting raised supply concerns.
Next week brings three tests. TSMC is scheduled to release delayed June sales on Monday, July 13, and second-quarter results on Thursday, July 16; U.S. June consumer-price data are due Tuesday, July 14, at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the Bank of Korea meets on July 16. Within four sessions, investors will get fresh readings on chip demand, inflation and the cost of holding Korea’s concentrated AI trade.
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