Korea Weekly Kickstart KOSPI declined by 5 amid continued concerns over elevated rates and Samsung delivering preliminary t...

Portfolio Strategy Research 9 October 2026 | 5:52PM SGT

KOSPI declined by 5% amid continued concerns over elevated rates and Samsung delivering preliminary third-quarter OP in-line with consensus

n KOSPI declined by 5% amid continued concerns over emphasis on alpha opportunities. Taiwan and Korea Timothy Moe, CFA | elevated rates and Samsung delivering preliminary now account for half of the MXAPJ index weight, having Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte

third-quarter OP in-line with consensus. The Leisure, displaced China which was the dominant market. The John Kwon | Chemicals and F&B sectors outperformed this week, main driver of these market changes is the information Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte while Securities, Tech and Steel sectors underperformed technology sector which now accounts for 43% of the the most (Exhibit 12). index cap. Demand for ‘compute’ (processing power n Foreign investors continued to sell the KOSPI market, needed to process digital workloads) is growing driven by outflows for KOSPI Tech (Exhibit 39). rapidly and for a sustained period, driven notably by the shift from inference AI to the agentic AI economy. n KOSPI 12m-forward EPS was revised up by 0.4%. The Our global semiconductor team expects global token Chemicals sector saw the strongest upward earnings usage to increase 24x from 2026-2030 to 120 revisions, while the Auto sector was revised down the quadrillion/month. The Tokens Per Day index estimates most this week (Exhibit 26). current usage at roughly 430 tr/day, around 2x greater n The KRW weakened 0.1% vs. USD this week. However, it than 230 tr/day at the start of this year and tracking strengthened 0.3% both vs. JPY and vs. EUR. towards our longer-term forecast. From the supply side, n The latest Korea Equity Risk Barometer (GSSRKERB our semiconductor analysts expect record global DRAM Index) is at -0.4, falling into a risk-adverse territory. and NAND undersupply in 2026 and a further new record shortfall in 2027, with continuing (albeit narrower) undersupply in 2028 extending into Charts of the Week: Investing in a differentiated Asia; 2029-2030 (although our semiconductor analysts do Undervalued, Low-Correlation Non-AI Opportunities not have formal estimates yet for these outyears). Our n Investing in a differentiated Asia : The investment 5-year base-case earnings growth CAGR for the MXAPJ environment is increasingly differentiated between tech hardware & semiconductor sector is +20%, with markets, sectors, and themes. We remain positive on the bull and bear scenarios of +28% and +9%. Our market region with a focus on tech-driven earnings and an

Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision. For Reg AC certification and other important disclosures, see the Disclosure Appendix, or go to

Goldman Sachs Korea Weekly Kickstart

Charts of the week: Investing in a differentiated Asia 4

Charts of the week: Undervalued, Low-Correlation Non-AI Opportunities 7

Valuation discount relative to Global and Asia regional peers 16

Currency, rates and commodities 19

Korea ERB, Credit and Market Technicals 20