▲ An advertisement related to U.S. stocks at a securities firm
The value of U.S. stock holdings by individual South Korean investors, known as Seohak ants, has surpassed 200 billion dollars again in four months.
According to SEIBRO, the securities information portal of the Korea Securities Depository, on October 7, the custody value of U.S. stocks held by domestic investors was tallied at 200.20257 billion dollars (approximately 268.3025 trillion won) as of October 5 (based on the inquiry date).
This is the first time in four months that the evaluation value of Seohak ants' U.S. stocks has exceeded 200 billion dollars since June 4 (201.0 billion dollars).
The value of U.S. stock custody first surpassed 200 billion dollars in history on May 11 (200.14 billion dollars) as individual investors continued their buying streak alongside the rise in the U.S. stock market this year.
It then hit a record high on June 2 (206.3 billion dollars), but subsequently decreased to 194.84793 billion dollars at the end of June and 171.46580 billion dollars at the end of July as the U.S. stock market remained sluggish.
However, after rebounding to 188.36649 billion dollars at the end of August, it expanded to 194.2 billion dollars at the end of last month.
The renewed increase in U.S. stock custody is interpreted as being driven by individual investors resuming net purchases of U.S. stocks, while the stock market, centered on tech shares, has recently hit record highs day after day, buoyed by optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).
Seohak ants (overseas stock investors), who had turned to net sellers in the U.S. market as they returned to the domestic market in April and May following government capital gains tax reduction benefits, shifted back to net buyers starting in June (632.96 million dollars).
After accumulating a massive 4.66862 billion dollars in July, they have maintained net purchases for four consecutive months through August (1.96234 billion dollars) and September (1.00128 billion dollars).
Meanwhile, unlike the domestic stock market, which continues to show a sluggish trend, the New York stock market is meeting the expectations of Seohak ants by setting record highs.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index hit record highs on October 5 and 6, fueled by growing anticipation over corporate earnings ahead of the third-quarter earnings release season.
Among the stocks most heavily held by Seohak ants, Tesla (22.1 billion dollars) and Nvidia (19.2 billion dollars) remain in the top two spots, followed by Alphabet (8.9 billion dollars).
The leveraged ETF (exchange-traded fund) tracking the U.S. semiconductor index threefold, known as SOXL (Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3X Shs ETF), and the Invesco QQQ Trust Srs 1 ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, ranked fourth and fifth with 5.8 billion dollars and 5.7 billion dollars, respectively.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※
Copying, redistribution, and unauthorized use in AI training are strictly prohibited.