Donghak Gaemi, Victory News from Samjeon Too

Rising Trend Amid Semiconductor Recovery Outlook

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] As the KOSPI recovers to pre-adjustment levels caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), individual investors who led the 'Donghak Ant Movement' with Samsung Electronics at the forefront have also reportedly earned substantial profits.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 4th, Samsung Electronics' stock price closed at 54,500 KRW, up 6.03% (3,100 KRW) from the previous trading day. This is the highest closing price since March 10 (54,600 KRW). As of 10:25 AM on the same day, Samsung Electronics continued its upward trend, trading at 56,200 KRW, up 3.12% (1,700 KRW) from the previous day. SK Hynix, ranked second in market capitalization, also closed at 88,700 KRW, up 6.48% (5,400 KRW), marking the highest price since March 10 (89,100 KRW).

With the sharp rise in stock prices, individual investors are actively realizing profits. On the previous day, individuals net sold Samsung Electronics stocks worth 682.1 billion KRW, continuing a seven-trading-day streak of net selling since the 26th of last month, totaling 1.3647 trillion KRW during this period. Since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Korea on January 20, individual investors have purchased a total of 7.8497 trillion KRW worth of Samsung Electronics shares up to the previous day, with an average purchase price of about 51,000 KRW during this period. SK Hynix also saw a flood of profit-taking sales following the recent price increase. Individual investors sold SK Hynix stocks worth 382.6 billion KRW over the past five trading days.

Since the COVID-19 impact on the stock market became prominent, Samsung Electronics has been regarded as a symbol of the Donghak Ant Movement and has been at the center of individual buying momentum. However, despite the recent market recovery trend, the stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix showed relatively sluggish returns, causing anxiety among Donghak Ant investors. Since the low point on March 19 until the previous day, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices surged by 49.15% and 75.82%, respectively, but Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose by only 28.84% and 28.55%, showing relatively smaller gains.

With recent forecasts of semiconductor market recovery, it appears that foreign and institutional investors have begun to increase their purchases. Dongwon Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, explained, "The sharp rise in stock prices yesterday is due to expectations that demand for server DRAM and SSD in the second half will be better than feared, limiting the decline in average selling prices of memory, and that the display and smartphone markets will confirm demand bottoming out in the second quarter." He added, "Since last month, demand for home appliances centered on TVs has exceeded expectations, which has also contributed to rising expectations for performance improvement in the second half."