Foreign investors have sold nearly 200 trillion won worth of shares on South Korea's main stock market since the start of the year, yet they have steadily bought exchange-traded funds throughout the same period.
Foreign investors sold a net 199.1045 trillion won on the main board, excluding ETFs, between Jan. 2 and the 12th, according to the Korea Exchange on the 13th.
Monthly net purchases, or sales, came to 118.6 billion won in January, minus 21.0731 trillion won in February, minus 35.8806 trillion won in March, 1.1283 trillion won in April, minus 44.7147 trillion won in May, minus 48.6248 trillion won in June, minus 9.8936 trillion won in July, minus 10.1756 trillion won in August and minus 21.5246 trillion won in September.
Only two of the first nine months showed net buying, and foreign investors have been net sellers for five straight months since May. They sold another 8.4635 trillion won between the 1st and the 12th of this month.
While sentiment toward the main board has shown little sign of recovering, the ETF market told a different story. Foreign investors bought a net 9.6595 trillion won worth of domestically listed ETFs from the start of the year through the 12th of this month.
They were net buyers every month: 151.4 billion won in January, 640.2 billion won in February, 735.5 billion won in March, 1.1198 trillion won in April, 648 billion won in May, 3.5101 trillion won in June, 1.2582 trillion won in July, 373.8 billion won in August and 1.1458 trillion won in September. From the 1st to the 12th of this month, buying exceeded selling by 76.6 billion won.
In the first half of the year, the ETF that drew the most foreign net buying by value was TIGER MSCI Korea TR, which invests in large- and mid-cap blue chips in Korea, at 1.7379 trillion won. It was followed by KODEX SK hynix Single Stock Leverage at 607.2 billion won and TIGER U.S. Nasdaq 100 at 485.7 billion won.
From July through last month, when the KOSPI was in a correction, the most heavily bought funds were KODEX Leverage at 641.1 billion won, TIGER U.S. Nasdaq 100 at 634.9 billion won and KODEX 200 at 584.3 billion won.
This month, from the 1st to the 12th, foreign investors have been buying products with opposing directions at the same time, including KODEX Leverage at 68.7 billion won and KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X at 33.3 billion won. Among sector-specific funds, TIGER Semiconductor Top 10 Leverage drew the largest net buying at 15.6 billion won.
Lee Sang-hyun, an analyst at Meritz Securities, said foreign money has yet to return since the start of the year. "That said, funds have been flowing in through ETFs toward themes whose share prices had lagged, such as semiconductors, financials and nuclear power," the analyst said.
Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea, said the biggest concern in the domestic stock market now is foreign flows rather than chip earnings. "Samsung Electronics' third-quarter operating profit beat market expectations, and memory prices and AI infrastructure investment remain solid, but continued foreign selling is keeping the KOSPI relatively weak," the analyst said.
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) said on the 8th that its third-quarter operating profit on a consolidated basis was tentatively calculated at 107.4 trillion won, up 782.5% from a year earlier, but the stock plunged as sell orders poured in, led by foreign investors. Samsung Electronics closed at 250,500 won on the 12th, down 4.39% from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. SK hynix (000660.KS) ended the day at 1.605 million won, down 4.52%.