ING’s Chris Turner highlights that Asian equities, especially semiconductor-heavy indices in Korea and Taiwan, are outperforming as investors focus on AI winners. Supported by strong early February Korean export data and measures to repatriate FX earnings, ING forecasts USD/KRW can fall back to 1425 by the end of March, signaling a firmer Korean Won.

Korean Won seen gaining into March

"That said, global equity markets are showing pockets of strength. In Asia, the semiconductor-heavy benchmark indices in Korea and Taiwan continue to power ahead as investors also keep an eye on the AI winners. On the subject of winners, Asia is seen as one of the key beneficiaries of the IEEPA tariff ruling, and Asian exporters have already been performing well."

"Data yesterday showed some very strong early February export figures from Korea. And combined with other measures to attract capital and FX earnings back onshore, we have a call that USD/KRW can trade back down to 1425 by the end of March."

"None of this, so far, has delivered the knock-out blow to equity markets, where the S&P 500 has gyrated in a narrow 6775-7000 range since the start of the year. Tomorrow evening's Nvidia release might be the next big story, however."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)