This Year, Individual Net Purchases of Domestic and Foreign Stocks Surpass 100 Trillion Won... Samsung Electronics Alone Accounts for 31 Trillion Won Net Purchases

Foreign Stocks Focused on Tesla... Amounting to 3 Trillion Won

Amid the rapidly changing stock markets of major countries such as South Korea, the United States, and China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of young individual investors in their 20s and 30s have entered the market, leading to a significant increase in the sales of finance and investment books. On the 27th, economic books were displayed at Kyobo Bookstore Gwanghwamun Branch in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] This year, the net purchase amount of domestic and foreign stocks by individual investors surpassed 100 trillion won. Samsung Electronics led net purchases domestically, while Tesla led overseas net purchases by individual investors.

According to the Korea Exchange and the Korea Securities Depository on the 26th, the total net purchase amount of domestic and foreign stocks by individual investors this year reached 103.3764 trillion won. From January 4 to December 24 this year, individual investors net purchased 65.6384 trillion won in the KOSPI market and 11.1113 trillion won in the KOSDAQ market. The total net purchase amount by individual investors in KOSPI and KOSDAQ was 76.7497 trillion won, the largest ever.

The net purchase volume of overseas stocks also reached an all-time high. As of the 22nd of this month, individual investors bought overseas stocks worth 22.33786 billion dollars (approximately 26.5262 trillion won), an increase of 13.2% compared to last year. Converted at the exchange rate of 1,192.0 won as of the 22nd, this amounts to about 26.6267 trillion won.

The stock most purchased by individual investors in the domestic market this year was Samsung Electronics. Since the beginning of this year, individual investors net purchased Samsung Electronics worth 31.3607 trillion won, which is about half of the total net purchase amount in KOSPI. This was followed by Samsung Electronics Preferred (5.0759 trillion won), Hyundai Mobis (3.1679 trillion won), Kakao (2.865 trillion won), SK Hynix (2.5237 trillion won), Hyundai Motor (2.3552 trillion won), and LG Electronics (2.1016 trillion won).

However, recently, as the domestic stock market has been trapped in a box range, it has shifted to net selling. In November, individual investors turned to net selling in the KOSPI monthly market for the first time this year, selling 1.7927 trillion won. This month, until the 24th, they net sold 6.6325 trillion won.

The top overseas stock in net purchases was Tesla. Individual investors bought Tesla stocks worth 2.79044 billion dollars as of the 22nd. This amounts to about 3.3262 trillion won, surpassing all domestic stocks except Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electronics Preferred shares. Additionally, individual investors net purchased the ETF TQQQ (Proshares Ultrapro QQQ ETF), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index three times, worth 78.67 million dollars. This was followed by Alphabet (70.59 million dollars), Apple (66.99 million dollars), Nvidia (62.10 million dollars), and Meta (60.41 million dollars).

As domestic stocks have recently been sluggish, individual investors are turning more to overseas stocks. From early last month, when KOSPI turned to selling, until the 22nd of this month, individual investors showed net purchases of overseas stocks worth 5.7425 billion dollars.