High Returns
SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) – Foreign investors have outperformed local institutional and retail investors in profits in the South Korean stock market so far this year, even as the market has gone through a topsy-turvy correction period, data showed Monday.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) has fallen 5.14 percent since the first trading session of the year on Jan. 3, due to poor corporate earnings and woes over a financial crisis in emerging markets.
But the average return on the top 20 shares bought by foreign investors during the period was 4.72 percent, marking a 9.86 percentage point gain compared with the KOSPI’s loss, according to private financial information provider FnGuide.
The top 20 stocks bought by institutional investors posted an average profit of 1.97 percent in the same period.
Foreign investors picked chip shares like SK Hynix and LG Display during the above-cited period, while institutional investors scooped up auto shares such as Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis and Kia Motors, which were sold most by foreign investors.
Among the top 20 shares bought by foreign investors, shares listed on the tech-heavy junior market, the KOSDAQ, generated higher returns than ones listed on the main bourse, the KOSPI.
Seoul Semiconductor and Wonik IPS, whose shares were listed on the junior market, posted an average return of more than 10 percent, pulling up the average profit for foreign investors’ investment in the local market. InterPark and WeMade Entertainment also recorded an average return of more than 20 percent.
Hotel Shilla was the biggest winner among the institutional investors’ top 20 stocks, generating an average return of 28.09 percent. During the period, institutional investors scooped up shares in Hotel Shilla worth 105 billion won (US$98 million).
The average return on the top 20 stocks picked by retail investors, including Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, logged a negative 11.84 percent.
The top 20 shares sold by foreign investors lost an average of 4.58 percent, doing better than an average loss of 9.33 percent for the top 20 stocks sold by institutional investors.
SK Hynix and LG Display, whose shares were sold the most by retail investors, gained an average 8.93 percent.