Korean retail net purchase in Kospi exceeds 2021 total, half went to Samsung Elec

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Individual investors in South Korea net purchased over 50 trillion won ($44.2 billion) in Kospi shares so far this year, already exceeding their last year’s buy and putting half of their money into bellwether Samsung Electronics Co.

According to Korea Exchange on Sunday, retailers net purchased 50.98 trillion won worth Kospi stocks since beginning of the year, topping 2020 total of 47.5 trillion won. Institutional and foreign investors were net sellers during the period, offloading 34.2 trillion won and 15.2 trillion won in Kospi, respectively.

Individuals net bought 22.3 trillion won in Kospi shares in January as the main index rallied to break the 3,000 threshold. Their purchase sank to 8.4 trillion won in February and further to 5.8 trillion won in April. Net purchase picked up to 7.4 trillion won this month in line with the Kospi’s climb to new heights of 3,249.3 on May 10.

Samsung Electronics remained their favorite. Between January 4 and May 14, individual investors net purchased 25.6 trillion won in Samsung Electronics shares - 22 trillion won in common shares and 3.6 trillion won in preferred shares, taking up 50.3 percent of their total buying.

When foreign investors net sold 2.6 trillion won in Samsung Electronics shares last week, they were quickly picked up by individuals with their net purchase hitting 3.1 trillion won.

Analysts noted that foreigners have been pulling out of technology shares since last week amid rising concerns over U.S.-led inflation but individuals’ bias towards chip shares stayed unaffected.

The second retail favorite also was chip major SK hynix. Their net buying reached 962.6 billion won. Next in rank was Naver, SK IE Technology, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

The top picks by foreign investors last week were stable but undervalued stocks – SK Telecom, NCSoft, Shinsegae, KT, and Korea Zinc.

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