Domestic Stock Market Joins Untact and Bio Sectors

Kakao, Naver Rank 1st and 3rd in Individual Net Buying
Foreigners and Institutions Buy Semiconductor Stocks
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Lead Together

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The leading stocks in the domestic stock market are changing. The first rebound of the KOSPI, which plummeted due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was driven by so-called 'Donghak Ants' who focused on buying Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. However, recently, their shopping baskets have been filled with untact-related stocks and bio stocks instead of semiconductors.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 10th, the stocks most purchased by individual investors over the past month from the 11th of last month to the 9th of this month were representative untact-related stocks Kakao and NAVER. Individuals bought a total of 673.4 billion KRW worth of Kakao and 507.7 billion KRW worth of NAVER, ranking first and third in net purchases, respectively. Kakao and NAVER emerged as promising stocks as online untact platform businesses gained attention after COVID-19.

Expectations for future growth prospects quickly translated into performance, attracting a flood of market love calls. As of the end of May, among the top 10 stocks by market capitalization, Kakao and NAVER were the only stocks whose Q2 earnings forecasts were revised upward compared to a month earlier. As of the 1st of this month, Kakao's operating profit for Q2 this year, estimated by three or more securities firms, is expected to increase by 135.2% year-on-year to 95.2 billion KRW. NAVER is also expected to record an operating profit of 229.2 billion KRW in Q2 this year, up 78.6% year-on-year.

The expectation of strong earnings led to stock price increases. Kakao rose 40.75% from 186,500 KRW on the 4th of last month to 262,500 KRW as of 10:20 a.m. on this day, and NAVER rose 23.37% from 199,000 KRW to 245,500 KRW during the same period. Their rapid growth also changed the market capitalization rankings, with Kakao briefly overtaking Hyundai Motor. Accordingly, as of the 20th of last month, Kakao contributed 2.5 points, NAVER 2 points, and NCSoft 1 point to the KOSPI's rise, with these three stocks alone pushing the KOSPI up by more than 5.5 points. In the KOSDAQ market, the index rise was led by purchases centered on bio stocks such as Celltrion Pharm, Alteogen, and Seegene.

While individuals focused on untact and bio stocks, semiconductor stocks that led the first rise were pushed to the back of individual shopping lists. This position is being filled by foreigners and institutions. Since the beginning of this month, individuals have net sold semiconductor stocks worth 1.8061 trillion KRW in the KOSPI market, while foreigners and institutions have net bought 219 billion KRW and 1.617 trillion KRW worth, respectively. The stocks that foreigners and institutions have jointly bought are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Those who started accumulating semiconductors over the past month have continued to increase their holdings this month. Samsung Electronics was the top net purchase by foreigners this month with 216 billion KRW, followed by Celltrion (202.9 billion KRW), Hyundai Motor (75.4 billion KRW), LG Chem (65.7 billion KRW), and Samsung SDI (62.3 billion KRW), focusing on top market capitalization stocks. Institutions, showing aggressive buying this month, also ranked Samsung Electronics (697.5 billion KRW) and SK Hynix (378 billion KRW) as their first and second net purchase stocks, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.