'Korea discount' still persists despite chip-driven rallies

'Korea discount' still persists despite chip-driven rallies

KOSPI has risen roughly 144 percent over the past eight months, but the gains have been concentrated in a handful of memory names. The broader market remains substantially undervalued: 68.2 percent of KOSPI constituents trade below book value, against just 1.9 percent for the S&P 500, 23.4 percent for Taiwan’s TAIEX and 22.2 percent for Japan’s Nikkei 225. The “Korea discount” persists. The discount is structural. At about 93 percent of KOSPI 20…