KOSPI Blazes an Uncharted Path Driven by Foreign Investors

KOSPI Hits Record Highs Day After Day
Foreign Investors Net Over 6 Trillion Won in KOSPI This Month
Further Net Buying Capacity Remains

The KOSPI is blazing a new trail, reaching record highs day after day. Foreign investors have purchased over 6 trillion won this month alone, driving the KOSPI to its all-time highs. SK Hynix is also continuing its record-breaking rally, buoyed by strong foreign buying.

According to the Korea Exchange on September 17, foreign investors made net purchases of 6.6331 trillion won in the KOSPI market from the beginning of this month until the previous day. After recording net sales last month, foreign investors not only returned as buyers within a month but also set the highest monthly net purchase amount of the year. Previously, the largest monthly net purchase by foreign investors was in July, when they bought a net total of 6.2809 trillion won.

Cho Joonki, a researcher at SK Securities, analyzed, "Last week, even though the Korean won did not appreciate significantly, foreign investors made large-scale purchases, buying 4 trillion won in KOSPI spot and 1 trillion won in KOSPI 200 futures." He added, "Most of the buying was concentrated in SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics."

Lee Kyungmin, a researcher at Daishin Securities, explained, "Since early July, the KOSPI moved within a box range and foreign buying stagnated. However, after the U.S. employment shock in early September, expectations for a U.S. interest rate cut grew, and optimism about the AI semiconductor industry, the commercialization of SK Hynix's HBM4 high-bandwidth memory, and domestic policy expectations led foreign investors to shift to large-scale net buying."

With foreign investors actively buying this month, their shareholding ratio is also increasing. Lee analyzed, "The foreign ownership ratio, which had stagnated around 31.5%, has risen to 32.44%. The share and ratio of foreign holdings are climbing stepwise, gradually increasing the KOSPI's foreign investor proportion."

The securities industry believes there is still room for further buying. Han Jiyeong, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, commented, "This foreign-led buying trend indirectly shows that the domestic stock market is not yet experiencing a severe FOMO (fear of missing out) phenomenon, and it is a factor that suggests we can continue to expect foreign buying going forward." He added, "Of course, since May, foreign investors have consistently been net buyers in the KOSPI market except for August, and their cumulative net purchases during this period have reached about 13.8 trillion won. One might initially conclude that their buying capacity is exhausted. However, it is important to note that despite this continuous net buying since May, the cumulative total since the beginning of the year still shows a net sale of 2.2 trillion won. This indicates that foreign investors still have additional net buying capacity."

There are also forecasts that, if the exchange rate is favorable, foreign buying concentrated in semiconductors could further expand. Jung Dawoon, a researcher at LS Securities, said, "If the won-dollar exchange rate declines, there is a possibility that foreign net buying could broaden across the entire market."

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