South Korea and Taiwanese equities experienced a huge influx of foreign investment during May, driven by a surge of interest in artificial intelligence and the subsequent demand for shares of hardware exporters in the region.
Specifically, Taiwanese equities attracted a massive inflow of $4.4 billion, followed by South Korean equities with $3.1 billion. The two markets accounted for about 64 per cent of the region's total inflows last month. "The chase for semiconductor stocks on optimism surrounding AI demand has been a key theme for investors, and South Korea and Taiwan’s significantly higher exposure to that industry may account for the larger amount of net inflows as opposed to the rest of the region," said Yeap Jung Rong, market strategist at IG.
"The GDP growth print was a significant positive surprise, and strong bank credit growth and GST collections are underscoring robust corporate growth outlook, we believe," said Manishi Raychaudhuri, Asia-Pacific head of equity research at BNP Paribas.