韩国金融股受全球银行财报、韩国加息和机构买入推动已明显上涨

A global rally in financial stocks, driven by strong earnings from major U.S. financial firms, is spreading, and Korea's leading bank shares are also seeing brighter prospects. Amid expectations that the Bank of Korea's base rate hike will strengthen momentum, warmth has been added by institutional buying following the semiconductor sector's entry into a correction phase.
According to the financial investment industry on the 16th, shares of major U.S. financial firms rose broadly during the second-quarter earnings season. On the 15th, BlackRock reported earnings that beat market expectations, becoming the first asset manager to surpass $15.3 trillion (about 22,800 trillion won) in assets under management (AUM), and surged about 14% this month alone. Morgan Stanley, which posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue on the back of strong investment banking (IB) and trading, also rose 9% over the same period.
In particular, JPMorgan Chase is leading the sector-wide strength as it nears becoming the first bank stock to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization. As of that day, its market cap stood at $929.5 billion, up 7.7% from the start of the year. It ranks 17th in global market cap, trailing Berkshire Hathaway (13th, $1.053 trillion), but far ahead of its rivals in pure banking terms.
Analysts say this earnings season confirmed the solid fundamentals of major U.S. banks. Overall capital market revenue, growth in net interest income (NII) and robust loan demand drove earnings, while asset soundness was assessed to have remained at a favorable level. Kim Jun-soo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, noted, "Despite large-scale shareholder returns, and contrary to market concerns, the decline in capital ratios was limited," adding, "While bank credit remains favorable, future variables will be capital depletion and exposure management in the non-banking sector."
Financial stocks are also gaining greater presence in the Japanese stock market. Earlier, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan's largest financial firm, rose to become Japan's top company by market cap on the 13th, overtaking Toyota and Kioxia. It is the first time in about 40 years that a financial firm has topped the market cap ranking since Sumitomo Bank in 1986, during the bubble economy.
With the Bank of Korea raising the base rate by 0.25 percentage point that day, analysts say the momentum for domestic financial stocks has been further strengthened. The securities industry expects that rising rates will improve net interest margins (NIM) and sustain growth in the banking sector's interest income. In particular, amid a sharp correction in semiconductor stocks on the domestic market recently, shareholder return policies such as dividends and share buyback cancellations are also enhancing the investment appeal of financial stocks.
In fact, the shares of Korea's four major financial holding companies continued a notable uptrend even amid the plunge. The KOSPI's July return was tallied at -19.54%, while the returns of Hana Financial Group (19.37%), KB Financial (13.90%), Shinhan Financial Group (12.63%) and Woori Financial Group (8.62%) all far exceeded the index's performance. Kim Ji-young, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, said, "As foreign investors rebalanced away from semiconductor stocks that have surged this year, interest has grown in beneficiaries of rate hikes, dividend stocks and value stocks," maintaining an "overweight" opinion on the banking sector.
The recent strong institutional buying concentrated in financial stocks is also positive. This month, institutions bought 606.8 billion won worth of KB Financial, the second-largest net purchase after Samsung Electronics. Adding Shinhan Financial Group (278.3 billion won), Hana Financial Group (202 billion won) and Woori Financial Group (67.4 billion won), net purchases of the four major financial holding companies alone surpassed 1 trillion won in about half a month.