Foreign Investors' Net Buying Increases in Jan.
The Korea Exchange announced on Feb. 1 that foreign investors’ net buying in KOSPI was approximately 6.5495 trillion won last month. For reference, their net selling was more than 1.87 trillion won in the previous month.
This has to do with a fall in the Korean won-U.S. dollar (KRW-USD) exchange rate. With the USD depreciating, foreign investors’ net buying increased to 6.5653 trillion won on Feb. 1. By contrast, from Jan. 2 to Feb. 1, individual and institutional investors net-sold 6.2481 trillion won and 305.3 billion won of KOSPI stocks, respectively.
According to Meritz Securities, the South Korean stock market is still very undervalued and it is expected to show the strongest recovery in Asia this year. It said that the South Korean and Taiwanese stock markets are expected to grow 39.2 percent and 18 percent this year, respectively.
“This forecast is based on the fact that their semiconductor industries will rebound in the end and the exchange rate is unlikely to surge for the time being,” it said, adding, “Still, it should be noted at the same time that these expectations are already reflected in stock prices to some extent.”