The MSCI South Korea Cap ETF registered approximately $1 billion of inflows during the most recent week, an amount KB Securities says represents the largest weekly addition to the fund in a decade.
KB Securities described the South Korean equity market as notable among emerging markets for offering both an earnings expansion of 90% year-over-year and valuation support at roughly a 10-times price-to-earnings ratio. Those two metrics form the core rationale the firm cited for elevated investor interest.
On a company and sector level, KB Securities projects a marked recovery in operating profits for 2026. The brokerage estimates that Samsung Electronics together with other semiconductor companies will deliver a combined operating profit increase of 224 trillion won year-over-year. Within that total, Samsung Electronics is forecast to account for an operating profit of 170 trillion won in 2026, which KB Securities said would represent a 290% rise compared with the prior year.
KB Securities also quantified the semiconductor industry’s contribution to the broader market turnaround, saying the sector’s operating profit gain represents 84% of the projected 267 trillion won increase in total KOSPI operating profit. The firm’s composite forecast for KOSPI operating profit in 2026 is 583 trillion won, a 90% increase from the previous year.
The influx into the MSCI South Korea Cap ETF appears to reflect these profit projections and the valuation profile flagged by KB Securities. According to the brokerage, the combination of sizeable earnings growth and a roughly 10-times P/E ratio underpins the case investors are making for South Korean equities, particularly those tied to technology and semiconductors.
What the reporting presents is a concentrated forecast-driven picture: materially higher operating profits for 2026, dominated by Samsung Electronics and the semiconductor industry, accompanied by strong short-term inflows into a key South Korea ETF. The coverage does not supply additional detail on forecast assumptions, alternative scenarios, or the distribution of investor types behind the ETF inflows.
Impacted sectors - Technology, Semiconductors, Korean equity market (KOSPI).