Jay Qian

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 18, Japanese and South Korean stock markets hit historic milestones. The Nikkei 225 Index closed up 1.65% at 71,053.44, crossing the 71,000 mark for the first time. South Korea's KOSPI Index breached 9,000 points intraday and closed at 9,063.84, up 2.25%. Memory chip giant SK Hynix surged over 7% to hit a new record high, driven by news of its HBM4E sampling.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 18, South Korea's KOSPI Index broke above the key 9,000-point level for the first time in history, rising over 1.5% intraday, with its year-to-date cumulative gains now exceeding 110%.

TradingKey - On June 18, Seoul time, SK hynix announced that it has supplied samples of 12-layer stacked HBM4E to major customers. The company stated that, leveraging the development capabilities and mass production experience accumulated from previous generations of HBM, the sample delivery is progressing as planned. Moving forward, it will work closely with customers to ensure timely mass production.

TradingKey - On June 17, Eastern Time, the Federal Reserve’s dot plot sent a strongly hawkish signal. Renewed expectations of interest rate hikes weighed on the market, causing all three major indices to decline, with the Nasdaq falling for the second consecutive day.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 18, both Japanese and South Korean stock markets edged higher in early trading. The Nikkei 225 Index opened at 70,163.71 points, up 0.37%, while the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened 0.2% higher at 8,884.92 points.

TradingKey - As of June 16, Eastern Time, the Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA) has delivered a cumulative return of approximately 32.7% since its listing on March 31. Leveraging its unique positioning as "the first pure-play space ETF to offer indirect exposure to pre-IPO SpaceX equity," the fund attracted over $3 billion in capital in just over two months, surpassing established peers to become the world's largest space-themed ETF. However, following SpaceX's (SPCX) IPO on June 12 and its subsequent surge of around 50% in the first three trading days, NASA's scarcity premium is rapidly eroding. Its share price has pulled back to $31.98 from an all-time high of $42.68 in late May, dropping over 9% on the first trading day post-IPO. The fund's future trajectory has now become a key focus for the market.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 17, Japanese and South Korean stock markets both opened lower but rebounded to close higher. The Nikkei 225 Index extended its strong performance to hit another record closing high, while South Korea's KOSPI Index rebounded strongly after opening sharply lower, posting significant gains at the close.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 17, Japanese media reported that as TSMC's (TSM) advanced process capacity continues to tighten, companies such as Google (GOOGL), AMD (AMD), BYD, and Tesla (TSLA) have recently increased their engagement with Samsung Electronics regarding foundry collaboration, leading to a significant increase in orders for Samsung's foundry business.

TradingKey - As the signing ceremony for the US-Iran ceasefire agreement on June 19 approaches, Bloomberg News and Iran's Mehr News Agency have successively disclosed the full text of the draft 14-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran. This framework agreement, known as the "Islamabad Memorandum," aims to permanently end the conflict between the two sides that erupted in February 2026 and pave the way for negotiations on a final agreement lasting up to 60 days.

TradingKey - On June 16, Eastern Time, the new Federal Reserve Chair, Wash, will preside over his first monetary policy meeting since taking office. Combined with Japan’s interest rate hike, which has put pressure on carry trades, the U.S. stock market is marked by a strong sense of caution. The thr

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened lower across the board during the Asian session on June 17. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down on profit-taking after hitting an intraday record high yesterday, while South Korea's KOSPI Index underwent a technical correction after two consecutive days of sharp gains.

TradingKey - On June 16, Tokyo time, the Bank of Japan concluded its two-day monetary policy meeting, announcing a 25-basis-point rate hike to raise its policy interest rate from 0.75% to 1.00%. This is the first time since 1995 that Japan's interest rate has touched the 1% level, and it also marks the central bank's first rate hike since December 2025, aligning with widespread market expectations.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 16, the Nikkei 225 Index breached the 70,000-point mark intraday; South Korean stocks extended yesterday's strong momentum, with the KOSPI Index closing 2.11% higher.

TradingKey - During Asian trading hours on June 16, the Nikkei 225 Index breached the 70,000-point psychological level for the first time in history, marking a new record high since the burst of Japan’s bubble economy in 1989.

TradingKey - TSMC (TSM) recently disclosed for the first time that it is collaborating with major ABF substrate supplier Ibiden and panel manufacturer Innolux to jointly validate the application of glass substrates in its next-generation advanced packaging technology, CoPoS. This move indicates that competition in advanced packaging is extending from wafer-level processes to panel-level processes.

TradingKey - On June 15, Eastern Time, SpaceX's upward momentum following its listing continued in overnight trading, with SpaceX (SPCX) seeing its overnight gains expand to over 10%. If these gains hold until the U.S. market open on Tuesday, its market capitalization will rise to approximately $2.77 trillion, officially surpassing Amazon (AMZN) to become the world's fifth-largest publicly traded company.

TradingKey - On Monday, all three major U.S. stock indices closed higher, with the Nasdaq rising 3.07%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.92%, and the S&P 500 climbing 1.65%. SpaceX (SPCX) surged nearly 20% in a single day, continuing its strong performance following its IPO last Friday.

TradingKey - Japanese and South Korean stocks opened mixed on Tuesday during the Asian session on June 16. The Nikkei 225 index opened at 69,288.91 points, down a slight 0.04% from the previous close, while the TOPIX fell approximately 0.4% to around 3,984.4 points. South Korea's KOSPI index opened 1.8% higher at 8,696.55 points, extending yesterday’s rally of over 5%.

TradingKey - During the Asian session on June 15, the Nikkei 225 index closed sharply higher by 4.99% at 69,317.50, surpassing the 69,000-point milestone for the first time. Amid a broad market rally, MLCC-related stocks outperformed significantly: Taiyo Yuden surged nearly 23%, Ibiden rose over 19%, and Murata Manufacturing gained more than 17%, collectively serving as the core drivers of the Japanese market's advance that day.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 15, Japanese and South Korean stock markets closed sharply higher, boosted by news of a peace agreement signed between the United States and Iran. A significant cooling of geopolitical risks, coupled with improving fundamentals in the semiconductor industry, drove strong gains in the major indices of both markets.