Foreign investors net sold more than 20 trillion won in KOSPI over the past month

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Eun-jin = Over the past month, foreign investors have recorded a selling advantage of over 20 trillion won in the KOSPI market.

The stocks that were net sold the most were SK Hynix [000660] and Samsung Electronics, and the proportion of foreigners in these stocks was reduced to the 49% and 46% range, respectively.

According to the Korea Exchange and Yonhap Infomax on the 4th, foreigners net sold 20.35 trillion won in the KOSPI market from the 1st of last month to the 2nd of this month.

This amount includes transactions in the aftermarket that opened on the 15th of last month.

Foreigners made net purchases on only 7 days out of 22 trading days.

In particular, on the 28th of last month, it showed a selling advantage of over 3 trillion won.

Accordingly, the proportion of foreigners in the KOSPI market based on market capitalization was reduced to 39.66%.

However, on the 1st of this month, there was a net purchase of 243 billion won, and on the next day, a net sale of only 190 billion won, making the selling trend weaker than before.

During this period, the stocks that foreigners net sold the most in terms of amount in the KOSPI market were SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, selling 12.09 trillion won and 5.186 trillion won, respectively.

Accordingly, the proportion of foreign investors in these stocks also decreased.

In the case of SK Hynix, the foreign ownership rate as of the 2nd was 49.76%, the lowest in about 3 years and 4 months since it recorded 49.46% on May 15, 2023.

The foreign ownership rate of Samsung Electronics [005930] was 46.41% as of the 2nd and had decreased to 46.40% on the 30th of last month.

The selling by foreigners appears to be due to the continued sale of profit-taking listings after the stock prices of large semiconductor stocks rose significantly in the first half of this year.

In addition, the prolongation of the war between the United States and Iran and the rise in interest rates in major countries such as the United States and Europe are believed to have had an impact.

However, securities firms predicted that if solid semiconductor industry conditions are confirmed in the earnings season and profit visibility is secured, there is a possibility that foreign funds will flow into the domestic stock market, where related industries account for a large portion.

First of all, Micron Technology, known as the 'weather vane' of the semiconductor industry as it was the first to announce its performance among the three global memory companies, announced a smooth start with 'surprising performance' on the 30th of last month.

Taking over the baton, Samsung Electronics will announce provisional earnings for the third quarter on the 8th.

Han Ji-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, “Macro instability will pass its peak this month and profit visibility after the third quarter earnings season will be secured, which will serve as an incentive for foreign net purchases.”

Lee Jae-won, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, said that recent large-scale selling by foreigners has continued to limit the top of the index, and that "the fact that the scale of selling has been reduced due to a strong index rise like on the 1st is the first change that confirms the possibility of supply and demand normalizing when long-term interest rates stabilize in the future."