▲ Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul
Local retail investors have net-purchased approximately 10 trillion won worth of US stocks over the past two months as global stock markets entered the second half of the year, data showed.
This figure surpasses the amount of stocks purchased in the domestic KOSPI market during the same period, suggesting that investors are expanding their investments into the US market amid sluggish domestic stock performance.
According to Seivro, the securities information portal of the Korea Securities Depository, on Sunday, individual investors bought a net $7.03879 billion (approx. 9.7135 trillion won based on an exchange rate of 1,380 won) in US stocks over roughly two months from July 1 to August 27 (based on inquiry date).
This amount exceeds by more than 300 billion won the 8.7532 trillion won net-purchased by individuals in the domestic KOSPI market from the 1st of last month to the 28th.
Compared to the amount purchased by individuals in the KOSDAQ market (1.5717 trillion won) during the same period, it is about six times higher.
Following a massive buying spree of $4.64241 billion throughout July, individuals additionally net-purchased $2.39637 billion this month up until the 28th.
The total volume bought over the two-month period accounts for about 70 percent of the total net purchases recorded in the first half of the year (January to June), which stood at $9.86780 billion.
July marked the beginning of a full-fledged correction period for the KOSPI after it hit a historical peak (closing at 9,114.55) on June 22.
After staying in the 8,000s until June, the KOSPI index dropped to the 7,000s on the second day of July, and further fell to the 6,000s by mid-month.
"Seohak ants" (local retail investors trading overseas stocks), who had returned to the domestic market in April and May driven by capital gains tax reduction benefits, returned to net buying in June ($632.96 million) before once again expanding their investments in the US market.
While the KOSPI underwent a two-month correction, the S&P 500 index in the US market rose from 7,499.36 at the end of June to 7,730.99 on the 27th of this month, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index also inched up from 26,213.72 to 26,541.35 over the same period.
The stock most heavily net-purchased by retail investors in the US market over the past two months was "SOXL" (Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3X Shs ETF), an exchange-traded fund that tracks three times the daily return of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, with purchases totaling $3.00632 billion.
The net purchase amount for SOXL accounts for more than 40 percent of the total US stock net purchases ($7.03879 billion) during this period.
This was followed by SK Hynix ADRs (American Depositary Receipts) at $815.42 million, Alphabet at $647.17 million, and SpaceX at $514.96 million.
Conversely, investors unloaded stocks including NVIDIA with $748.90 million in net sales, along with Palantir ($615.40 million), Micron ($353.93 million), and Microsoft ($322.30 million).
Investor deposit funds, which stood at 132.4696 trillion won on June 29, decreased by more than 33 trillion won to 98.9176 trillion won on the 26th of this month, suggesting that a portion of these reduced deposits flowed into the US market.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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