Volatility in Japan and South Korea has risen recently as retail investors
increasingly buy stocks on margin, Morgan Asset Management’s Japan equity
portfolio manager Michiko Sakai said. She warned that while severely
underweighting AI is risky, aggressively expanding AI exposure also carries
risk. The AI rally has broadened beyond a few "AI concept" names into
infrastructure, storage chips and components, offering more avenues for
positioning. Sakai said markets are becoming more sensitive to valuation levels
and the durability of corporate profits and asked: "Should AI company valuations
be anchored to near-term earnings or to long-term growth expectations?"