According to Bloomberg, the asset management giant BlackRock's iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) saw net inflows of over $2.8 billion last week, setting a single-week record and far exceeding the $1.2 billion record set in February this year. Approximately 25% of its holdings have been allocated to SK Hynix. Data shows that South Korean investment products attracted a total net inflow of $3.03 billion last week, ranking first globally. During the same period, U.S.-listed emerging market ETFs saw total net inflows of $4.39 billion, the highest since February 27. Among them, equity ETFs absorbed $4.22 billion, while bond funds saw inflows of $164 million.

On July 21, spot silver's intraday gain expanded to 3%, now trading at $58.10 per ounce. Spot gold is currently up about 1.4%.

On July 21, the Financial Times reported, citing sources involved in the discussions, that Chinese regulators are considering tightening export controls on AI and semiconductor technologies. The Ministry of Commerce has held discussions with AI companies such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu to restrict the transfer of key data used for model training overseas and to limit foreign users from downloading model weights. However, China will still allow overseas customers to access these models and services. The Ministry of Commerce has also sought feedback on potential restrictions that would prohibit overseas chipmakers like Qualcomm and TSMC from manufacturing advanced semiconductors based on designs developed by companies such as Huawei, Alibaba, and ByteDance. According to sources, most proposals are still under discussion, and regulators are evaluating industry feedback before making a final decision.

Zhipu (02513.HK) surged over 30% in afternoon trading. The company has established a 1GW domestic computing power center and simultaneously completed the acquisition of Zhongke Jiahe. (Jin Shi)

On July 21, CLSA released an in-depth thematic report stating that despite the rise of AI models triggering market concerns about disruption in the software industry, software as a service (SaaS) is far from dead. However, the industry still needs to undergo profound changes before investor confidence returns. CLSA analysts noted: 'We are surrounded by business details, compliance requirements, and information filters managed by software. The idea that AI 'vibe-coding' could eliminate all of this sounds unrealistic. We find moats everywhere—ServiceNow's workflow catalog, Salesforce's sales associations, Oracle's precise database, Microsoft's ubiquity, Workday's HR expertise, and even Adobe's font library.' CLSA gives Microsoft and Adobe 'outperform' ratings with target prices of $535 and $300, respectively; Oracle and Salesforce 'hold' ratings with target prices of $145 and $165, respectively; and ServiceNow and Workday 'underperform' ratings with target prices of $72 and $92, respectively.

On July 21, a research team led by JPMorgan senior researcher Zahin Ov noted that the S&P 500's performance relative to international equities may be 'weaker' for the remainder of 2026. The report stated: 'We expect US stocks to rise from current levels, but returns by year-end are unlikely to match those of the first half of 2026.' Below are the key factors the bank believes will impact markets for the rest of 2026: changes in bond market structure driving higher volatility, elevated inflation and interest rates, high retail investor participation prone to triggering negative feedback, and AI disruptions to employment.

On July 21, JPMorgan maintained its overweight rating on South Korea and kept its 12-month target for the KOSPI index unchanged at 12,500 points.

On July 21, according to data monitored by Farside Investors, the US spot Bitcoin ETF had a net inflow of $226.8 million yesterday.

On July 21, Japanese chip stocks continued to rise, with Kioxia surging 14%, SoftBank Group up 6.1%, and Advantest gaining 5.9%. (Jin Shi)

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, as of July 16, the margin balance used for financing stock purchases has fallen to 33.4 trillion won (approximately 22.6 billion US dollars), the lowest level since April 15. This figure represents a 13% decline from the peak of 38.6 trillion won at the end of June. Other data suggest that retail investors' enthusiasm for stocks in South Korea may be cooling. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, investor deposits fell to 108.1 trillion won on July 16, down from a high of 139.7 trillion won on June 4. (Jin10)