April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Foreigners have net bought more than 2.2 trillion won (US$2 billion) worth of Korean stocks this year in continuation of their buying spree from 2017, the Korea Exchange said on Jan. 16.

Offshore investors acquired listed shares valued at 10.2 trillion won last year on solid earnings buttressed by rising exports.

The total net purchase of Korean shares by foreign investors for the first 15 days of this month breaks down to 1.4 trillion won of stocks listed on the main KOSPI bourse and 713 billion won on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ secondary market.

Institutional investors net sold 2.8 trillion won worth of stocks and individual investors net bought 495 billion won worth of shares during the period.

POSCO topped the list of foreign buying on the KOSPI market at 305 billion won, followed by Hyundai Motor at 175 billion won, Shinhan Financial Group at 150 billion won, OCI at 146 billion won, Hyundai Robotics at 122 billion won and LG Chemical at 104 billion won.

Bio companies were the most popular on the KOSDAQ market with purchases of Celltrion shares hitting 634 billion won.

Viromed came in second at 35.3 billion won, trailed by Hugel at 33.4 billion won and SillaJen at 26 billion won.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)