Korean investors pile into US stocks despite weaker won

This file photo from 2008 shows the New York Stock Exchange building as people pass by on the street. (Reuters-Yonhap)

Korean investors are piling into US stocks despite an unfavorable won-dollar exchange rate, extending a multiyear surge in overseas equity investment.

Their holdings of US shares reached $171.8 billion as of the end of last week, up $8.2 billion, or 5 percent, from the end of last year, according to the Korea Securities Depository on Tuesday.

In just the first two weeks of trading this year, net purchases totaled $3.1 billion, already exceeding the $1.87 billion recorded in December and snapping a two-month downtrend in net buying.

The latest inflows build on a three-year run of rapid growth. Koreans’ US stock holdings have nearly quadrupled from $44.2 billion at the end of 2022 to $163.6 billion in 2025. The sharpest expansion was in 2024, when holdings jumped 65 percent year on year, surpassing $100 billion for the first time.

Buying has been heavily concentrated in US technology shares and index-tracking exchange-traded funds. Tesla led with $27.6 billion, accounting for 16 percent of total Korean holdings of US stocks, followed by Nvidia ($17.9 billion), Alphabet ($7.2 billion), Palantir ($6.5 billion) and Apple ($4.3 billion). Popular ETFs included the Nasdaq 100-tracking Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 and ProShares UltraPro QQQ, as well as the S&P 500-tracking Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.

The rush into US assets has persisted even as currency costs have risen. The won weakened from around 1,435 per dollar at the end of last year to nearly 1,480 intraday last week and has recently hovered near 1,470, erasing most of its late-2025 gains.

Authorities and market experts have increasingly flagged retail overseas investment as a key source of dollar demand and downward pressure on the won, prompting the government to roll out measures aimed at steering capital back into domestic markets.

The Finance Ministry said Tuesday it would offer a full capital gains tax exemption to investors who sell overseas stocks by March under a new Reshoring Investment Account and reinvest the proceeds in domestic stocks and funds. The exemption rate will be reduced for sales made after that period and for investors who repurchase the same overseas stocks through other accounts. Additional tax incentives are also planned for retail investors who choose foreign exchange-hedged products.

The ministry said the measures will run for about one year as temporary steps to stabilize the foreign-exchange market, with related legislation set to be discussed at the National Assembly next month and product rollouts to follow the amendment timeline.