"End of Relief Rally?" 1.6 Trillion Won Institution... Foreigners' Third Consecutive Week of 'Net Buying'

On the 19th, the won-dollar exchange rate started at 1,326.0 won, up 5.3 won from the previous trading day (1,320.7 won), at the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. On the same day, the KOSPI opened at 2,510.72, up 2.67 points (0.11%) from the previous trading day. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Foreign investors have been net buyers of domestic stocks for three consecutive weeks this month. Following their first net buying shift this year last month, the buying momentum continues.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 21st, foreign investors purchased approximately 684.2 billion KRW worth of domestic stocks from the 16th to the 19th. They were net buyers of 738.9 billion KRW in the KOSPI market but net sellers of 54.6 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market.

During this period, the stock most purchased by foreign investors was Samsung Electronics, with net buying worth 299.4 billion KRW. This was followed by KakaoBank (201.8 billion KRW), SK Hynix (123.7 billion KRW), Hyundai Motor (100.1 billion KRW), and L&F (99.1 billion KRW).

On the other hand, Kakao was the most sold stock with net sales of 76.7 billion KRW. This was followed by Kia (-73.4 billion KRW), NAVER (-69.4 billion KRW), SK Telecom (-59.9 billion KRW), and Hana Financial Group (-33.8 billion KRW).

The KOSPI index fell below the 2,500 mark during the same period, dropping to 2,492.69 on the 19th. This was due to concerns over an economic recession triggered by rising energy prices, as natural gas prices surged amid heatwaves and droughts in Europe. Institutional investors were net sellers of over 1.6 trillion KRW worth of domestic stocks last week, driving the index down.

Shin Seung-jin, a researcher at Samsung Securities, advised, "Although the won-dollar exchange rate is testing its July highs, the selling pressure from foreign investors has clearly decreased. It would be wise to respond with the understanding that the market is likely to flow into a thorough stock-specific trend rather than an index trend for the time being."

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