JPMorgan: After KOSPI Plummeted 40%, Deleveraging Nears End, Valuation Enters Repair Window

According to TechFlow Research, JPMorgan's research report on July 29 noted that the South Korea KOSPI Index has fallen nearly 40% from its high on June 22, leveraged ETF size shrank from $50 billion to $17 billion, the hedge fund long/short ratio dropped from 5.7x to 3.2x, and deleveraging progress has exceeded 90%. The KOSPI forward P/E ratio fell to 5x, at a crisis level. Foreign investors have cumulatively net sold over $110 billion, but 90% was concentrated in two memory chip giants. As their weights in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index decreased from 9.5% and 8.3% to 6.5% and 4.5%, passive selling pressure has significantly eased. JPMorgan believes that position clearing combined with cheap valuations means the South Korean stock market has entered a valuation repair window, and it is bullish on wealth effect-related sectors, biopharmaceuticals, preferred stocks, and bank stocks.