Foreigners, institutions unload POSCO Holdings shares to realize profit

Foreign and institutional investors have been engaged in the offloading of secondary battery stocks since last month as they seek to realize profit amid the price surge.

According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, foreign investors net sold 3.14 trillion won ($2.4 billion) worth of shares on the Kospi market between July 17 and August 4. The offloading was intensive during the period given that foreigners net sold 1.93 trillion won in Kospi stocks in the last month.

Foreigners unloaded shares worth 1.3 trillion won on July 25 alone.

Institutional investors also net sold 3.73 trillion won in Kospi shares during the cited period. They were on a selling spree every single day except for three trading sessions.

Individuals, on the other hand, bought shares worth 6.73 trillion won.

The recent selloff by foreigners and institutions comes as they seek to realize profit amid a surge in secondary battery stocks, according to analysts.

POSCO Holdings was the most sold stock by foreigners between July 17 and August 4. Foreign investors sold as much as 4.31 trillion won in POSCO Holdings during the period, which is greater than total net sales.

Half of the top 10 stocks sold by foreigners were secondary battery stocks and the net selling amount of the remaining four stocks besides POSCO Holdings amounted to 939 billion won, accounting for 30 percent of total net sales.

After selling shares of POSCO Holdings and Samsung SDI Co., foreigners net bought secondary battery stocks such as EcoPro BM Co. and POSCO Future M Co.

Foreign investors purchased 1.1 trillion won worth of EcoPro BM shares and 629.8 billion won worth of Ecopro Co. between July 17 and August 4.

POSCO Future M and SK ie technology Co. were the fifth and sixth most bought shares, with 162.1 billion won and 124.1 billion won purchased each.

POSCO Holdings was the most sold stock by institutions (691.7 billion won) during the same period. Secondary battery stocks accounted for half of the top 10 net selling stocks.

“There is an increased demand for profit-taking in highly valued sectors such as secondary batteries and semiconductors, which have surged recently,” said Kim Seok-hwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. “The demand previously concentrated in these sectors is being dispersed to lower-value sectors.”