Foreigners, 'Buy' for 3 Consecutive Weeks... SK Hynix Most Purchased

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

According to the Korea Exchange on the 21st, foreign investors net purchased about 1.428 trillion KRW in the domestic stock market during the week from the 15th to the 19th. Foreign investors bought 1.3357 trillion KRW in the KOSPI market and 92.3 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market, respectively.

The stock most purchased by foreign investors last week was SK Hynix. Foreign investors net bought SK Hynix worth 361.2 billion KRW last week. This was followed by SK IE Technology, which they bought for 259.3 billion KRW. In addition, they net purchased NCSoft (229 billion KRW), Samsung Electronics (222.4 billion KRW), Krafton (215.1 billion KRW), Kakao (119 billion KRW), Samsung SDI (116.1 billion KRW), DB HiTek (76.4 billion KRW), HMM (62.2 billion KRW), and SD Biosensor (61.4 billion KRW).

The stock most sold by foreign investors last week was POSCO. Foreign investors net sold POSCO worth 75.1 billion KRW last week. This was followed by Kia, which they sold for 71.2 billion KRW. Other top net sold stocks by foreign investors included KEPCO Engineering & Construction (45.3 billion KRW), Hana Financial Group (44.8 billion KRW), SM Entertainment (37.2 billion KRW), Celltrion Healthcare (35.3 billion KRW), KT&G (35.2 billion KRW), Hyundai Mobis (28 billion KRW), Korea Electric Power Corporation (24.9 billion KRW), and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (24.8 billion KRW).

With foreign investors turning to net buying this month, it is expected that this could develop into a positive trend. Park Seokhyun, a researcher at KTB Investment & Securities, said, "Monthly net buying by foreign investors this year has occurred in April, September, and now for the third time. As of the 17th, the scale of foreign net buying in November recorded the largest monthly amount this year." He added, "Although it may be premature to expect the full-scale start of foreign investors' net buying in the domestic stock market, the November foreign net buying is the first change this year across emerging Asian markets. Considering that foreign net buying is recovering simultaneously in both the Korean and Taiwanese markets, and that the negative factors which caused global liquidity to avoid emerging market stocks have already been exposed, the change in foreign investor trends at this turning point suggests that this could develop into a positive trend going forward."