NH-Amundi Asset Management: "Launch of Korea-US Strategic Investment Corporation Marks Entry Opportunity for Nuclear Stocks After Short-Term Correction"

June ETF Report Released

NH-Amundi Asset Management announced on June 11 that it has published the "June HANARO ETF Monthly Report," stating that the recently corrected nuclear sector may present an attractive investment opportunity from a mid- to long-term perspective.

According to the report, domestic nuclear-related stocks have shown weak performance since May, following a significant surge in April. This is attributed both to profit-taking by investors in large-cap construction and electric equipment stocks that had risen sharply earlier in the year, and to the market’s liquidity flowing into leading semiconductor stocks.

NH-Amundi Asset Management analyzed this as a process in which overheated investment sentiment is calming down. In particular, the company views the upcoming official launch of the Korea-US Strategic Investment Corporation on June 18 as a practical trigger for nuclear cooperation between Korea and the United States, predicting that this month will serve as an inflection point for the nuclear sector. It expects that, following the corporation’s establishment, working-level talks on revising the nuclear agreement and the materialization of large-scale projects will gradually become visible.

In fact, at the Korea-US summit held in October last year, language allowing uranium enrichment and reprocessing in Korea was included in the joint statement between the two countries, marking a significant milestone for the advancement of Korea’s nuclear industry. The report forecasts that once revisions to the nuclear agreement and the division of roles with Westinghouse are finalized, Team Korea’s full-fledged entry into the US market could begin and those benefits could spread across Europe, where nuclear adoption is underway. The US’s stated goal of expanding nuclear power capacity fourfold from about 100 gigawatts (GW) to 400 GW by 2050 also raises expectations for Korea’s participation as a proven partner.

Small modular reactor (SMR) projects are also taking shape. In April, TerraPower announced the groundbreaking of a 345-megawatt (MW) plant in Wyoming, United States, while GE Vernova Hitachi received investment approval from the Ontario provincial government and has begun construction of the G7’s first commercial SMR. In Korea, Doosan Enerbility has decided to build a dedicated SMR plant, further strengthening its position as a global key supplier. The report indicates that if specific nuclear power plant projects begin in earnest this year and next, it could mark the start of a nuclear upcycle in the Western world—the first in about 40 years.

In line with these trends, NH-Amundi Asset Management has recommended "HANARO Nuclear iSelect" and "HANARO Power Equipment Investment" as its suggested ETFs for June. HANARO Nuclear iSelect is a product that diversifies investments across leading domestic companies in the nuclear and power equipment sectors with global competitiveness, while HANARO Power Equipment Investment is an ETF composed of companies involved in power infrastructure, identified as the biggest bottleneck for advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

Kim Seungcheol, Head of ETF Investments at NH-Amundi Asset Management, said, "As US nuclear projects proceed sequentially, it is realistically impossible for the US to rebuild its own industrial ecosystem without including the Korean supply chain," adding, "The recent price correction should be regarded as an attractive entry opportunity when considering the long-term fundamentals of the nuclear sector."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.