Foreigners, 'Buy' for 2 Consecutive Weeks... Sell Samsung Electronics After Buying Kakao Games

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Foreign investors showed buying momentum in the domestic stock market for two consecutive weeks.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 14th, foreign investors net purchased about 557.5 billion KRW in the domestic stock market during the week from the 8th to the 12th. Foreign investors bought 245.5 billion KRW in the KOSPI market and 311.9 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market, respectively.

The stock most purchased by foreign investors last week was Kakao Games. Foreign investors net bought Kakao Games worth 175.9 billion KRW last week. This was followed by Kakao Bank, which they bought for 148.3 billion KRW. In addition, they net purchased SK Hynix (120.9 billion KRW), Krafton (114.0 billion KRW), Samsung SDI (83.1 billion KRW), Semtech (60.1 billion KRW), SKC (54.2 billion KRW), SD Biosensor (46.4 billion KRW), Hwasung (38.8 billion KRW), and NHN (38.2 billion KRW).

The stock most sold by foreign investors last week was Samsung Electronics. Foreign investors net sold Samsung Electronics worth 118.5 billion KRW last week. This was followed by Celltrion, which they sold for 113.3 billion KRW. Other top net sold stocks by foreign investors included Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (96.1 billion KRW), Celltrion Healthcare (56.4 billion KRW), POSCO (42.1 billion KRW), Pearl Abyss (37.4 billion KRW), Hugel (33.3 billion KRW), SK (28.9 billion KRW), KCC (27.6 billion KRW), and Hana Financial Group (26.1 billion KRW).

If the resumption of global economic activities accelerates and inflationary pressures due to supply shortages and concerns over Chinese regulations ease, foreign capital inflows are expected to be possible. Seo Jeonghoon, a researcher at Samsung Securities, said, "Considering the possibility of changes in economic conditions, we can expect the inflow of global passive funds," adding, "This will increase preference for large-cap stocks that have been trading sideways at the bottom level for a long time." Seo also added, "In the case of domestic automobile and IT hardware (H/W) sectors, price attractiveness is currently emerging, and recently foreign investors have been selectively accumulating these stocks, which is also positive."