Nomura Quant Insights

Research evidence excerpt

Nomura Quant Insights

Global Markets Research

29 June 2026Nomura Quant Insights

Cross-asset - Japan

Individual investors draw attention as the AI trade reverses: A Research Analysts

week to assess durability of the reversal Macro Strategy / Quantitative

StrategySouth Korean equities whipsawed by leveraged ETFs/Middle East de-escalation trade in

Yoshitaka Suda - NSLJapanese equities and BOJ Tankan/New money for Japanese equities increasing in US

yoshitaka.suda@nomura.com

Weak tech skew and AI reversals / Concerns over South Korea's individual +65 6433 6674

investors / Sharp expansion in dry powder among margin investors / Leveraged

ETFs whipsaw South Korean stock market

Last week, AI trades reversed on a global scale. Micron's much-anticipated earnings came

in above market forecasts, and its share price rose sharply the next day. While it would not

have been surprising if FOMO had intensified, in reality the move ran out of steam by the

second day. While it is true that reports that OpenAI had delayed its IPO evoke concerns

about cooling AI investment demand, this does not seem like news significant enough to

shake longer-term expansion of AI trades. That said, we see growing caution around an

unwinding of "excessively" bullish positioning. With tech skew remaining below the 5%

level, reversal flows picked up last week (see our 22 June 2026 edition of NomuraQuants

Insights-Micron'searningsbeingmorecloselywatchedthantheFOMCwas).

Global attention has been focusing increasingly on the outlook for bullish positions held by

South Korea's individual investors. Since the start of the year, buying by individuals has

given the South Korean equity market a powerful boost, even as overseas investors have

remained persistent sellers.