This month, the net selling amount by foreign investors in the KOSPI has approached 15 trillion won, setting a new all-time high. While they have disposed of a large volume of semiconductor stocks that led the rally, they selectively added stocks related to the so-called "ABC" (Artificial Intelligence, Bio, Chemical) sectors to their portfolios.

According to the Korea Exchange on November 26, foreign investors sold 12.9856 trillion won worth of stocks in the main stock market from November 1 to 25, 2025. This surpasses the previous record set in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the net selling reached 12.5 trillion won. If the trading volume of the alternative trading system (ATS) NextTrade is included, the net selling for this month increases to approximately 14.825 trillion won.

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The most notable change in foreign investment trends is that they are selling off both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the two leading semiconductor stocks. As recently as last month, when the semiconductor rally was peaking, foreign investors were net buyers of Samsung Electronics by about 7 trillion won, while being net sellers of SK Hynix by 4.6 trillion won, weighing the leadership of the two giants. However, this month, they have sold more than 11 trillion won combined from both stocks, signaling a full-fledged move to realize profits.

Heo Jaehwan, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, commented, "Foreign buying in the semiconductor sector appears to be influenced more by changes in semiconductor profit outlooks than by exchange rates," adding, "The recent foreign selling may have been affected by the slowdown in upward revisions of semiconductor earnings forecasts."

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Although foreign investors are offloading traditional leading stocks such as semiconductors, interest in the so-called "ABC" themes-Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bio, and Chemical-remains strong. This month, there were a total of six stocks that foreign investors purchased more than 100 billion won of, with two each from the AI (LG CNS, ISU Petasys), Bio (Celltrion, SK Biopharmaceuticals), and Chemical (LG Chem, LG Energy Solution) sectors.

In particular, Celltrion was the most bought stock by foreign investors this month, with a net purchase of 273.1 billion won. The company drew attention after the Export-Import Bank of Korea announced it would provide 350 billion won in financing for Celltrion's acquisition of Eli Lilly's manufacturing facilities in the United States. The company is receiving positive reviews as its new bio sales growth is leading to improved cost of goods sold. This year, Celltrion's consolidated sales are estimated at 4.162 trillion won (up 17.0% year-on-year), with operating profit expected at 1.0779 trillion won (up 119.1%).

LG CNS and ISU Petasys are newly added to the KOSPI 200 index following the Korea Exchange's recent regular index rebalancing. LG CNS is noted for its partnership with Nvidia's physical AI, while ISU Petasys is recognized as a beneficiary of Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) value chain. Yang Seungsoo, a researcher at Meritz Securities, stated, "As Google's proprietary AI services enter a high-growth phase, ISU Petasys, which has secured a dominant TPU market share in the printed circuit board (PCB) sector, is expected to benefit from a supercycle," and raised the target price from 140,000 won to 160,000 won.