Foreign investors have sold Won33.4tn of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares since August, while retail buying has surged as the chipmakers’ stocks come under pressure.
Foreign investors have been pulling back from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, while individual investors have stepped in to buy the recent weakness, according to a report by E-Daily. The split has become more pronounced as the two South Korean chipmakers have come under pressure, with foreigners using the sell-off to rotate into other stocks and retail investors treating the decline as a buying opportunity.
E-Daily reported that, from August 20, when SK Hynix began a share buyback, through October 14, foreigners sold a combined Won33.3646tn worth of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares. Over the same period, individual investors were also net sellers of the two stocks, but in October they reversed course and bought heavily as the market weakened. The report said retail investors added more than Won7.5tn of the two names between October 6 and 14 alone.
Foreign investors, meanwhile, continued to trim their semiconductor exposure in October and channel funds into other Korean shares. According to the report, they bought Won5.388tn of Woori Financial Group during October 1 to 14, alongside significant purchases of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Isu Petasys, DB HiTek and HMM. In the broader period since August 20, their biggest net purchases in the Kospi market included Woori Financial Group, Korean Air and SK Innovation, with GS, Daeduck Electronics, Samsung SDS and Korea Investment Holdings also drawing buying interest.
That shift has coincided with markedly different share-price performance. E-Daily said Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 14.39% and 16.09% respectively between August 20 and October 14, while Korean Air rose 20.36% and SK Innovation gained 29.63%. Woori Financial Group, the top foreign net buy in the period, slipped only 1.74%, underscoring how foreigners have, for now, favoured stocks showing relatively steadier momentum.
The foreign exodus has also deepened concerns about a supply-demand gap in the domestic market. The report said Samsung Electronics’ foreign ownership ratio has fallen to its lowest level since 2008, while SK Hynix is trading below its average foreign ownership level over the past 10 years. Market watchers are now looking to late-October earnings releases from both companies as the first meaningful test of whether foreign buying can return.
Analysts are watching several possible catalysts, including the companies’ outlook for memory-chip supply and demand, assessments of competition from China’s CXMT and any further shareholder-return measures. The report also pointed to the US midterm elections on November 3 and Anthropic’s planned listing in mid-November as additional events that could affect sentiment. Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Kim Jae-seung said, as quoted by E-Daily, that there is no obvious large-scale event likely to reverse foreign selling immediately, but that inflows could gradually return as those catalysts are digested.
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