So-called "Seohak ants," Korean retail investors who invest in the U.S. stock market, were found to have heavily net-purchased U.S. big tech and semiconductor-related stocks during the recent Chuseok holiday.

According to SEIBRO, the securities information portal of the Korea Securities Depository, on September 30, domestic investors net-purchased USD 38.19 million (approx. KRW 51.7 billion) worth of Meta shares, making it the most-bought stock in the U.S. market between September 28 and 29 based on settlement inquiry dates.

Based on actual transaction settlement dates, this corresponds to September 24 and 25, which were the Chuseok holiday period in South Korea.

SanDisk followed in second place with USD 35.31 million (KRW 47.8 billion), Alphabet in fourth with USD 19.88 million (KRW 26.9 billion), and Oracle in fifth with USD 17.54 million (KRW 23.8 billion).

KORU (Direxion Shares ETF Trust Daily MSCI South Korea Bull), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks three times the performance of the South Korean stock market, ranked third with a net purchase of USD 23.79 million (KRW 32.2 billion).

Analysts suggest that despite the New York stock market fluctuating during the Chuseok period due to surging U.S. Treasury yields and rising oil prices, buying power among Seohak ants concentrated on tech stocks amid lingering expectations for AI and semiconductors.

The three major New York stock indices all declined on September 23 (local time) as expectations for additional interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve strengthened and U.S. Treasury yields surged.

On September 24, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose.

Boosted by the strength of AI-related tech stocks, the Nasdaq Composite continued its upward trend for two consecutive days on September 25, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 1.41% on the same day.

In addition, as the Kospi rose for four consecutive trading days (September 18 to 23) prior to the Chuseok holiday, buying also flocked to KORU, a 3x leveraged fund tracking the domestic stock market.

Meanwhile, SGOV (iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF), which was the top net-purchased asset by Seohak ants earlier this month until before the Chuseok holiday (September 1 to 25 based on inquiry dates), saw USD 6.68 million (KRW 9.1 billion) in net sales on September 28 and 29.

It ranked 17th by net sales volume during this period.

SGOV, which invests in U.S. short-term Treasury bills with maturities of three months or less, is classified as a parking-type ETF where funds are temporarily parked before determining investment destinations.

As the eyes of Seohak ants shifted back to tech stocks, they may have reduced their investment proportions in such products.

Chang Chi-young, a researcher at Hana Securities, analyzed that "capital inflows into big tech stood out in the U.S. ETF market last week," adding, "The weekly capital inflow strength for big tech recorded 10.13%, maintaining a high level following the previous week (6.05%) and marking the strongest influx since July."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)