Foreigners Switch to 'Saja' After 7 Weeks... Semiconductor Net Buying for the First Time in a While

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Foreign investors have returned to a buying trend in the domestic stock market after 7 weeks. Buying interest was concentrated in the semiconductor sector, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 6th, foreign investors net purchased about 892.7 billion KRW in the domestic stock market during the week from the 31st of last month to the 4th of this month. Foreign investors bought 918.4 billion KRW in the KOSPI market, while they sold 25.3 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market.

The stock most purchased by foreign investors last week was Samsung Electronics. Foreign investors net bought Samsung Electronics for 898.8 billion KRW last week. This was followed by SK Hynix with a net purchase of 188.5 billion KRW. Other net purchases included Kakao (99.7 billion KRW), Kia (85.5 billion KRW), Hyundai Motor (81.3 billion KRW), LG Chem (75.1 billion KRW), S-Oil (65.2 billion KRW), SK Telecom (47.5 billion KRW), SK IE Technology (40.0 billion KRW), and SK Innovation (35.9 billion KRW).

The stock most sold by foreign investors last week was HMM. Foreign investors net sold HMM for 179.1 billion KRW last week. While foreign investors had purchased HMM the most the previous week, their stance reversed within a week. Next, they sold POSCO for 124.5 billion KRW. Other top net sales by foreign investors included LX Holdings (66.9 billion KRW), Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (65.2 billion KRW), Hyundai Mobis (44.2 billion KRW), KT&G (37.4 billion KRW), Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance (33.3 billion KRW), Hotel Shilla (32.8 billion KRW), Samsung SDI (31.0 billion KRW), and Hyundai Engineering & Construction (27.1 billion KRW).

Kim Younghwan, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "Last week, foreign investors net purchased KOSPI every day except for one day," and analyzed, "The expectation of a semiconductor industry upturn is the main reason for foreign investors' return to the domestic stock market." Recently, due to favorable DRAM supply and demand, major companies announced plans to expand production investment in the second half of the year, easing concerns about the semiconductor supply chain disruption. Accordingly, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the index rise by increasing more than 3% weekly. Researcher Kim said, "The stock market will continue a gentle upward trend through rotation within cyclical stocks," and added, "Strong performance is expected from IT and automobile sectors supported by export growth, as well as reopening-related stocks due to expanded vaccination."