Foreign Investors Buying ETFs Amid Uncertain Market Conditions

US Tapering and Interest Rate Hike Variables
Preference for Stable Investments Over Individual Stocks
4 Out of Top 10 Net Purchases in One Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Due to variables such as tapering (asset purchase reduction) and interest rate hikes, changes are occurring in the preferred investment stocks of Seohak Gaemi (individual investors investing in overseas stocks). As market volatility increases, purchases of stable exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are rising rather than individual stocks.

According to Korea Securities Depository's Saviro on the 8th, among the top 10 net purchased stocks by Seohak Gaemi from the 7th of last month to the 6th of this month, four were ETFs. The most purchased stock in the past month was Alphabet, with a net purchase of $161.76 million. Next was the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), purchased for $74.86 million. Following were Microsoft at $66.29 million, SPDR S&P 500 Trust (STANDARD AND POORS DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS·SPY) at $59.11 million, Invesco QQQ Trust SRS 1 ETF (INVSC QQQ TRUST SRS 1 ETF·QQQ) at $54.02 million, ProShares UltraPro QQQ (ProShares UltraPro QQQ·TQQQ) at $45.67 million, Amazon at $43.12 million, Moderna at $42.20 million, Coupang at $37.57 million, and Starbucks at $35.55 million. Among the top 10, four were ETFs, with three included in the top five. In the first half of the year, only two ETFs were in the top 10.

LQD is an ETF that invests in an index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds, investing in bonds from companies such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America (BOA), Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Apple, and AT&T. SPY tracks the S&P 500 index, while QQQ and TQQQ are ETFs that track the Nasdaq.

Seohak Gaemi's love call for ETFs has become more prominent in the second half of the year. In July, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ETF (HKD) ranked first in net purchases, and QQQ, Global X Lithium ETF, and BM MCRS ID 3X LV (an ETF that tracks U.S. oil company stock prices threefold) were among the top 10. The number of ETFs in the top 10 increased from two in the first half to four in the second half.

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