Foreigners, 'Palja' for 3 Consecutive Weeks... Sold the Most Semiconductors

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Foreign investors have continued net selling in the domestic stock market for three consecutive weeks. They sold the most semiconductor stocks such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 7th, foreign investors net sold about 1.2671 trillion KRW in the domestic stock market during the week from the 2nd to the 5th. They sold 1.108 trillion KRW in the KOSPI market and 159.4 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market, respectively.

The stock most purchased by foreign investors last week was KB Financial Group. Foreign investors net bought KB Financial Group by 121.9 billion KRW last week. Following that, they bought POSCO by 120.6 billion KRW. In addition, they net purchased LG Chem (115.6 billion KRW), HMM (67.5 billion KRW), Samsung Life Insurance (59.5 billion KRW), Hana Financial Group (53.4 billion KRW), Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (53.4 billion KRW), Shinhan Financial Group (50.5 billion KRW), SK Telecom (31.6 billion KRW), and Kangwon Land (28.9 billion KRW).

The stock most sold by foreign investors last week was SK Hynix. Foreign investors net sold SK Hynix by 404.5 billion KRW last week. Next, they sold Samsung Electronics by 251.5 billion KRW. Other top foreign net sold stocks included Kakao (221.1 billion KRW), Samsung Electronics Preferred Shares (148.3 billion KRW), Samsung SDI (121.1 billion KRW), Hyundai Motor (83.0 billion KRW), SK Biopharm (70.1 billion KRW), Celltrion (62.6 billion KRW), SK Chemicals (60.2 billion KRW), and SK Innovation (59.5 billion KRW).

As foreign investors continue to reduce their exposure in the domestic stock market, there is an opinion that attention should be paid to whether foreign investors will also switch to a selling position in the domestic futures market. Roh Donggil, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, analyzed, "Foreign capital outflows continue in Korea and Taiwan, and the speed of foreign net selling in the Korean stock market exceeds that of Taiwan. Despite foreign capital inflows into emerging markets, the reasons for the reduction of exposure in the Korean stock market can be found in factors such as aligning returns, and difficulties in setting hedge positions due to the short-selling ban."

Since the simultaneous expiration date of futures and options in December last year, foreign investors have net sold about 40,000 contracts of KOSPI 200 futures. Researcher Roh said, "Foreign investors are actively realizing arbitrage profits by simultaneously utilizing futures and spot markets. Considering the ongoing short-selling ban, the possibility of foreign investors switching to a large-scale selling position on the March futures and options simultaneous expiration date is limited."