Despite KOSPI Plunge and Falling Stock Prices... Retail Investors Holding SK Hynix Shares

Net Buying Exceeds 800 Billion This Month... Retail Investors' Buying Momentum 'Year-Round'

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Despite the stock market plummeting amid the second wave of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), individual investors steadily purchased SK Hynix shares. It appears that the sentiment expecting a rebound was driven by the judgment that the stock price, which has been slow to recover, was still undervalued.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 19th, the stock most purchased by individual investors the previous day was SK Hynix. They bought 89.5 billion KRW worth of shares in one day alone, accumulating more than 20 billion KRW compared to the second-ranked Seegene.

Since the beginning of this month, individual investors have net bought SK Hynix every day except on the 10th. During this period, they purchased a total of 810.7 billion KRW, approaching the monthly record for this year set in July (890.6 billion KRW). Since the KOSPI index hit its all-time high of 2458.17 and began to decline on the 13th, they have bought 188.1 billion KRW worth of shares.

They have been steadily accumulating shares despite the market crash and sluggish stock prices. As of 9:42 AM on the day, SK Hynix’s stock price was 77,000 KRW, down 1.41% from the previous day. This sluggishness is similar to the stock price level in late March when the KOSPI index crashed. Nevertheless, individual investors consistently bought SK Hynix with 467.7 billion KRW in March, 337.7 billion KRW in April, 260.5 billion KRW in May, and 890.6 billion KRW in July. Except for a net sale of 265.7 billion KRW in June, they have maintained a buying trend every month this year.

Since the beginning of this month, individual investors have net bought SK Hynix every day except on the 10th. During this period, they purchased a total of 810.7 billion KRW, approaching the monthly record for this year set in July (890.6 billion KRW). Since the KOSPI index hit its all-time high of 2458.17 and began to decline on the 13th, they have bought 188.1 billion KRW worth of shares.

In the securities industry, there are forecasts that SK Hynix may experience some sluggishness in the second half of this year but will rebound starting next year. Soo-bin Lee, a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Due to customers reducing server investments amid COVID-19 and smartphone shipment expectations falling short, the second half of this year may be sluggish. However, from the fourth quarter, as cloud customers’ DRAM inventories decrease and DRAM suppliers’ expansion delays ease supply-demand conditions, prices are expected to rebound."

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