Foreigners Switch 'Palja' in 6 Weeks... Buying the Most from KakaoBank

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Foreign investors have turned to a selling trend in the domestic stock market after six weeks.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 23rd, foreign investors net purchased about 1.0512 trillion won in the domestic stock market during the week from the 17th to the 21st. Foreign investors sold 705.8 billion won in the KOSPI market and 345.1 billion won in the KOSDAQ market, respectively.

The stock most bought by foreign investors last week was Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance. Foreign investors net purchased 60.4 billion won of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance last week. This was followed by Celltrion, which they bought for 58.1 billion won. In addition, they net purchased LG Display (46.6 billion won), Hana Financial Group (44.7 billion won), Wemade (43.2 billion won), SK Hynix (41.2 billion won), KB Financial Group (38.0 billion won), Celltrion Healthcare (34.7 billion won), LG Chem (29.8 billion won), and SK Square (26.0 billion won).

The stock most sold by foreign investors last week was KakaoBank. Foreign investors net sold 144.7 billion won of KakaoBank last week. This was followed by LG Innotek, which they net sold for 122.4 billion won. Other top foreign net sales included Naver (120.6 billion won), Kia (79.5 billion won), Kakao (66.7 billion won), Hyundai Motor (60.7 billion won), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (56.7 billion won), Samsung Electronics (53.9 billion won), NCSoft (48.5 billion won), and LG Electronics (47.3 billion won).

The stock market is expected to enter a lull phase this week. Kim Younghwan, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "In the fourth week of January, the stock market is expected to be in a lull due to uncertainty over U.S. interest rates around the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, cautious sentiment during the Lunar New Year holiday, and attention focused on the listing of LG Energy Solution," adding, "Interest will be concentrated on individual issues such as government expectations for domestic demand stimulus and policy momentum related to presidential election pledges."