Foreign Investors Turn Away from Samsung Electronics as Market Cap Drops 70 Trillion Won and 52-Week Low Hits Again...

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] On the 15th, Samsung Electronics once again hit a 52-week low. As foreign investors continue to sell, the proportion of Samsung Electronics in foreign investors' domestic stock portfolios is steadily shrinking.

Samsung Electronics fell below 67,000 KRW early in the trading session and continued its weak trend. During the day, the stock price dropped 1.48% compared to the previous day, falling to 66,500 KRW.

According to the Korea Exchange, the proportion of Samsung Electronics shares held by foreigners in domestic stocks was 22.51% as of the previous reference date, marking the lowest level in the past three years. Samsung Electronics accounted for 24.24% on the opening day of trading in 2020 and 25.64% on the opening day last year. However, due to foreign investors' selling trend since the second half of last year, the proportion has steadily declined, recording 22.85% on this year's opening day. The foreign ownership ratio of Samsung Electronics also fell to 51.25% the day before, and it is expected to shrink further due to the stock price decline on this day. Samsung Electronics' market capitalization has evaporated by more than 70 trillion KRW, dropping from 469.2249 trillion KRW at the beginning of the year to around 398 trillion KRW as of the morning of this day.

The main culprit driving down Samsung Electronics' stock price is foreign investors. From the beginning of this year until the 14th, foreign investors' net sales of Samsung Electronics reached 2.845 trillion KRW, and recently, they have been net sellers for 16 consecutive days including this day. Securities analysts attribute this to the reduction of emerging market asset allocations amid overlapping geopolitical risks and inflation, leading to concentrated selling of Samsung Electronics, which holds a large stake. Kim Young-hwan, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, pointed out, "Samsung Electronics' stock price is mainly influenced not by earnings but by the global semiconductor market conditions and the attractiveness of emerging markets centered on manufacturing from a global asset allocation perspective."

Moreover, the outlook suggests that escaping the '60,000 KRW Samsung Electronics' price level will not be easy. Kim Dong-won, a researcher at KB Securities, said, "As macroeconomic uncertainties increase, there are doubts about a rebound in memory prices in the second half of the year," adding, "For Samsung Electronics' stock price to rebound, it is necessary to expand the procurement ratio of in-house application processors (AP) such as Exynos, improve foundry yield, and secure growth engines through mergers and acquisitions (M&A)."

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