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Korea’s AI Profit Taking Goes Regional, Week in Review

Korea’s AI Profit Taking Goes Regional, Week in Review

Posted June 5, 2026 at 10:45 am

Brendan Ahern
KraneShares

Week in Review

  • Asian equities were mostly lower for the week as the Philippines and Singapore outperformed, while Indonesia and Mainland China’s STAR (Science & Technology) Board underperformed.
  • Meituan released its Q1 earnings on Monday, indicating a significant reduction in losses, as the restaurant delivery price war in China winds down.
  • Tencent announced that it will be integrating a proprietary AI agent service into the WeChat ecosystem, which is used by over one billion people worldwide.
  • China released its May purchasing managers’ indexes (PMIs) on Monday, as the private surveys indicated stronger growth than the “official” surveys, though all indicated expansion month-over-month.

Key News

Asian equities ended the week with a thud, as profit-taking in South Korea spread to the region. The KOSPI (Korea) Index fell -5.54%, led lower by SK Hynix, which fell -6.07%, and Samsung, which fell -3.8%. We’ll see if Jensen Huang’s four-day visit to the country can restore animal spirits. Indonesia’s Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite fell -4.2% to reach a 52-week low, after having plunged -38% from mid-January, following the release of several government policies that are not popular with investors and MSCI’s potential downgrade of the country’s markets from emerging to frontier status. The US dollar was weaker versus most Asian currencies, except for the Korean Won, as the CNY per USD exchange rate has come back up to 6.77.

Hong Kong and Mainland China were not immune to the regional downdraft overnight, as AI plays and year-to-date (YTD) winners, including semiconductors, electronic equipment, and communication equipment, were all hit hard. The severity of the downdraft and profit-taking was fierce. Hong Kong-listed semiconductor stocks, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), which fell -7.18%, Montage Technology, which fell -9.21%, and Hua Hong Semiconductor, which fell -7.16%, were all hit hard. Hardware suppliers Victory Giant and YOFC fell by -11.18% and -4.63%, respectively, while AI large language model (LLM) providers MiniMax and Knopwledge Atlas, which is also known as Zhipu, fell -16.65% and -9.05%, respectively, despite the latter being added to Southbound Stock Connect next week.

Internet stocks were off, but not significantly. Meanwhile, Mainland investors were net sellers of Hong Kong-listed stocks and ETFs, totaling -$309 million. Although Tencent fell -1.26%, the stock saw a net buy of $216 million from Mainland investors, the largest since March 16th. Meituan rose by 1.72% after announcing its 900,000th drone delivery.

Interestingly, there has been little attention to JD.com’s annual 618 E-Commerce sales event, which is seeing strong pre-sales. E-Commerce is just out of sight and out of mind, I suppose. ZTE gained +5.3% following yesterday’s partnership with Tencent on cloud computing. Non-ferrous metals were hit hard in both Hong Kong and Mainland China.

There was some AI profit-taking in Mainland China, as technology hardware was hit; electronic equipment makers Foxconn and Eoptolink fell by -5.11% and -3.60%, respectively. Chipmakers were also affected, as Cambricon fell -4.39%, Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) fell -5.55%, Montage Technology fell -7.81%, and Naura fell -3.77%. The chip-heavy STAR Board fell -4.01% overnight, though banks had a good day.

Mainland-listed shares of autonomous driving company Leader Harmonious Drive Systems gained +20%, hitting a limit up. The surge was driven by a respected Singapore-based hedge fund naming the auto parts and transmission maker, which has transitioned to robotic actuators, as its top humanoid robotics pick. It is worth noting that we are among the top five US investors that own the stock, which is not part of the MSCI indices currently.

The ETFs favored by the “National Team,” investment firms associated with China’s sovereign wealth, had below-average volumes.

A Mainland article pondered whether mobile phone makers’ AI LLMs could replace apps such as Tencent’s WeChat. Why wouldn’t I talk into my phone and ask it to book a flight and hotel for a business trip, thus bypassing online travel websites and apps? You can easily draw similar parallels to other applications (“Buy XYZ stock!” etc.). The article’s answer was no, as mobile phone makers will want to partner with Tencent to ensure that WeChat and other super apps are available, given their large user bases. While building an app is not hard, the embedded user base is impossible to replicate. It is similar to the downdraft in US software stocks due to AI’s threat. This issue is likely a factor in the recent weakness of Hong Kong-listed internet stocks. A re-rating on this ground is not the proverbial silver bullet, but a factor, as the restaurant delivery war and tepid domestic consumption have weighed on the companies’ fundamentals. We recently saw US software stocks rebound. So, hopefully, we see a similar rebound play out in these stocks.

Yesterday afternoon, while examining Southbound Connect flows, I noticed that the database we utilize had given me incorrect data that we used in yesterday’s note.

Last Night’s Performance

Country / IndexTicker1-Day Change
China (Hong Kong)HSI Index-1.2%
Hang Seng TechHSTECH Index-1.7%
Hong Kong TurnoverHKTurn Index26.9%
Hong Kong Short Sale TurnoverHKSST Index13.1%
Short Turnover as a % of Hong Kong TurnoverN/A20.4%
Southbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions)N/A-309.89
China (Shanghai)SHCOMP Index-0.7%
China (Shenzhen)SZCOMP Index-1.3%
China (STAR Board)Star50 Index-4%
Mainland Turnover.chturn Index11.4%
JapanNKY Index-1.3%
IndiaSENSEX Index-0.2%
IndonesiaJCI Index-4.2%
MalaysiaFBMKLCI Index0.6%
PakistanKSE100 Index-0.2%
PhilippinesPCOMP Index0.4%
South KoreaKOSPI Index-5.5%
TaiwanTWSE Index-1.3%
ThailandSET Index-0.8%
SingaporeSTI Index-0.3%
AustraliaAS51 Index-0.7%
VietnamVNINDEX Index0.4%
IndicatorHong KongMainland China
Today’s Volume % of 1-Year Average128137
Advancing Stocks1323111
Declining Stocks3701934
Outperforming FactorsNoneDividend Yield, Value, Low Volatility
Underperforming FactorsMomentum, Growth, EPS RevisionMomentum, Growth, Liquidity
Top SectorsFinancials, Consumer Discretionary, Real EstateFinancials, Healthcare, Staples
Bottom SectorsInformation Technology, Materials, Consumer StaplesInformation Technology, Utilities, Energy
Top SubsectorsConsumer Staples Distribution, Transportation, BanksPetrochemical, Construction Machinery, Aerospace/Military
Bottom SubsectorsSemiconductors, Tech Hardware, Chemical IndustrySemconductors, Computer Hardware, Power
Southbound Connect BuysTencent (Large), YOFC (Small)N/A
Southbound Connect SellsSMIC (Very Large), Hua Hong Semi, Victory Giant (Small)N/A
MSCI China All Shares Index# of StocksAverage 1-Day Change (%)
Hong Kong Listed165-0.86
Communication Services11-1.43
Consumer Discretionary28-0.71
Consumer Staples13-1.65
Energy6-1.12
Financials250.89
Health Care16-1.05
Industrials22-1.56
Information Technology12-2.4
Materials14-2.2
Real Estate7-0.89
Utilities11-1.35
Mainland China Listed386-1.6
Communication Services80.29
Consumer Discretionary26-0.25
Consumer Staples190.32
Energy12-1.55
Financials640.7
Health Care310.55
Industrials58-1.12
Information Technology95-3.96
Materials52-1.23
US & Hong Kong Dually ListedTicker1-Day Change (%)
Tencent HK700 HK Equity-1.3
Alibaba HK9988 HK Equity-0.9
JD.com HK9618 HK Equity0.7
NetEase HK9999 HK Equity-2.3
Yum China HK9987 HK Equity-0.6
Baozun HK9991 HK Equity-2.3
Baidu HK9888 HK Equity-3.5
Autohome HK2518 HK Equity-2.8
Bilibili HK9626 HK Equity0.5
Trip.com HK9961 HK Equity-1.4
EDU HK9901 HK Equity-1.3
Xpeng HK9868 HK Equity-2.2
Weibo HK9898 HK Equity-1.2
Li Auto HK2015 HK Equity-1
Nio Auto HK9866 HK Equity-3.8
Zhihu HK2390 HK Equity-4.2
KE HK2423 HK Equity-1.9
Tencent Music Entertainment HK1698 HK Equity1.8
Meituan HK3690 HK Equity1.7
Hong Kong’s Most Heavily Traded by Value1-Day Change (%)
SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURI-H-7.2
TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD-1.3
AIA GROUP LTD-3.5
ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD-0.9
LENOVO GROUP LTD-0.5
YANGTZE OPTICAL FIBRE AND-H-4.6
HUA HONG SEMICONDUCTOR LTD-H-7.2
CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX TECHN-H-1.7
MEITUAN-CLASS B1.7
KINGBOARD LAMINATES HLDG LTD-8.2
Shanghai and Shenzhen’s Most Heavily Traded by Value1-Day Change (%)
ZHONGJI INNOLIGHT CO LTD-A-7.8
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO LT-A4.6
EOPTOLINK TECHNOLOGY INC L-A-3.6
GIGADEVICE SEMICONDUCTO-CL A-7.8
HENGTONG OPTIC-ELECTRIC CO-A-1.8
SUZHOU TFC OPTICAL COMMUNI-A-4.9
FOXCONN INDUSTRIAL INTERNE-A-5.7
SUZHOU DONGSHAN PRECISION-A-6.9
VICTORY GIANT TECHNOLOGY -A-7.6
JIANGSU ZHONGTIAN TECHNOLO-A0

Last Night’s Exchange Rates, Prices, & Yields

  • CNY per USD 6.77 versus 6.77 yesterday
  • CNY per EUR 7.85 versus 7.87 yesterday
  • Yield on 10-Year Government Bond 1.72% versus 1.71% yesterday
  • Yield on 10-Year China Development Bank Bond 1.76% versus 1.76% yesterday
  • Copper Price 0.10%
  • Steel Price -0.19%

Originally Posted June 5, 2026 – Korea’s AI Profit Taking Goes Regional, Week in Review

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