Samsung Electronics Short Selling Trading Amount 92.1 Billion KRW on 12th... 11% of KOSPI Total Short Selling
Ranked 1st in KOSPI Short Selling Amount for Two Consecutive Days Since Sharp Stock Price Drop on 11th
Reflecting Semiconductor Industry Caution... Betting on Stock Price Decline
[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] On the 13th, Samsung Electronics' stock price fell to the 70,000 won range. Amid growing concerns over tapering (reduction of quantitative easing) due to U.S. inflation, foreign investors unleashed a selling spree, with short selling transactions on the company exceeding 170 billion won over the past two days.
Samsung Electronics started trading on the KOSPI market at 78,900 won, down 1.88% from the previous day. Early in the session, the price dropped to 78,500 won, marking the lowest level this year. As of 11 a.m. on the same day, Samsung Electronics was trading at 7,900 won, down 1.25%.
Since the beginning of this month, Samsung Electronics traded around 83,000 won but fell 2.40% on the 11th and dropped another 1.48% the day before, falling to 80,000 won. Over the past two days, foreign investors net sold nearly 2 trillion won (1.9334 trillion won), pulling the stock price down. Although individual investors net bought over 2.5 trillion won to absorb the volume, the decline could not be stopped as institutional investors also joined the selling trend.
This stock price decline was partly due to short selling. According to the Korea Exchange's short selling portal, the short selling transaction amount for Samsung Electronics was 84 billion won on the 11th and 92.3 billion won the day before, exceeding 170 billion won in total. Considering that short selling transactions ranged from 3 billion to 5 billion won from the resumption on the 3rd to the 10th, this represents an increase of more than 20 times. About 11% of the total short selling transaction amount of 814.9 billion won in the KOSPI 200 on the previous day was used to push down Samsung Electronics' stock price.
On the previous day, foreign investors short sold 706.5 billion won worth of stocks in the KOSPI market. Individuals short sold 9.9 billion won and institutions 99.7 billion won. The scale of foreign short selling gradually decreased from 753.9 billion won on the first day, the 3rd, to 395.2 billion won on the 7th, but has been increasing again since the 11th (586.4 billion won).
Analysts interpret that foreign investors betting on Samsung Electronics' stock price decline reflect concerns about the semiconductor industry outlook. Recently, technology companies such as Apple and Alphabet, along with semiconductor companies like Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, formed the "U.S. Semiconductor Alliance (SAC)" and requested the U.S. Congress to pass a semiconductor support package worth 50 billion dollars (about 56 trillion won). If the U.S. implements semiconductor support and nurturing policies, it is inevitable that the market share of Korean and Taiwanese semiconductor companies will decline. Moreover, Taiwan's TSMC, the world's number one semiconductor company, saw its sales decrease by 13.8% month-on-month last month, heightening concerns about the semiconductor industry. Lee Jin-woo, a researcher at Meritz Securities, said, "The recent stock price decline appears to be due to concerns about the semiconductor industry and the risk of concentration, as some semiconductor companies in the U.S. have received downgrade reports." He added, "It is unclear whether this selling trend should be seen as a reflection of the industry trend, but it is true that concerns about semiconductor companies are linked."
Some also analyze that the tapering concerns have been reflected as U.S. inflation becomes more visible. Lee Eun-taek, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "The April inflation in the U.S. was shocking, but this is just the beginning," adding, "Although the stock market may rebound after a sharp decline, the situation remains unfavorable."
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