With the unprecedented boom in the U.S. stock market since the beginning of this year, domestic individual investors have poured 4 trillion won (US$3 billion) into direct stock investments abroad, surpassing four times the amount invested during the same period last year. Securities firms are also ramping up efforts to attract customers by employing various marketing tactics such as free commission promotions.
According to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) on March 18, the net purchase amount of U.S. stocks by domestic investors reached US$3,231,757,518 from the beginning of this year to March 15, approximately equivalent to 4.31 trillion won. This figure is more than four times higher than the US$773,308,555 net purchase amount during the same period last year. Domestic investors had net sold US$2,826,262,709 worth of U.S. stocks on an annual basis last year.
The net purchase amount of U.S. stocks by Korean individual investors seems to be increasing over time. According to the KSD, Korean investors net purchased US$729,786,428 worth of U.S. stocks in January, followed by more than twice that amount in February, reaching US$1,474,124,480. This month, they maintained their purchasing dominance with net purchases amounting to US$1,027,846,610 in just two weeks.
By individual stock, the highest net purchases were seen in Nvidia at US$724,981,388, followed by Tesla at US$711,465,028, Microsoft at US$440,028,413, and MicroStrategy at US$149,695,036.
With the current situation, competition among domestic securities firms to attract customers has intensified. Mirae Asset Securities and Samsung Securities are currently running promotions where they waive online commissions for individual investors purchasing U.S. stocks until the end of June. Additionally, Kiwoom Securities is offering a US$40 deposit to first-time investors in U.S. stocks through non-face-to-face accounts until the end of this month.