"Not Bought for Nothing" Foreigners' Net Purchase of Korean Stocks in Q1 Hits Record High

In the first quarter of this year, foreign investors' net purchases of stocks in the KOSPI market reached a record high on a quarterly basis.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Korea Exchange on the 30th, foreign investors have net purchased stocks worth 15.77 trillion won in the securities market from the beginning of this year until the 29th. This is the highest amount on a quarterly basis since the exchange began compiling related statistics in 1998. The previous record was 14.798 trillion won in the third quarter of 2009.

The monthly net purchases by foreigners were 3.483 trillion won in January, 7.858 trillion won in February, and 4.428 trillion won in March.

In the first quarter, foreign investors heavily bought domestic semiconductor stocks amid the US-driven AI (artificial intelligence) semiconductor stock boom. They also accumulated many low PBR (price-to-book ratio) stocks expected to benefit from the government's corporate value-up program.

Among the top 10 stocks by foreign net purchases, three were semiconductor-related stocks, and five were low PBR stocks such as automobiles and financial stocks. The stock prices of the top 10 stocks by foreign net purchases all rose compared to the end of last year. The average increase rate was 22.6%, which is seven times the KOSPI's increase rate of 3.4% during the same period.

The stock most net purchased by foreigners was Samsung Electronics, with net purchases of 5.052 trillion won. Hyundai Motor followed with 2.141 trillion won, and SK Hynix with 1.756 trillion won, ranking second and third respectively.