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Korea Exchange (Photo courtesy of the Korea Exchange). |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Investment strategies of retail and foreign investors diverged sharply this month, with stocks heavily bought by retail investors underperforming, while those favored by foreign investors delivered strong gains.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Tuesday, the most actively net-purchased stock by retail investors between February 2 and 13 was SK hynix, with net buying totaling 3.2473 trillion won. This was followed by Naver (716.4 billion won), Hyundai Motor (502.6 billion won), Hanwha Aerospace (485.2 billion won), and Kakao (402.9 billion won).
Foreign investors, by contrast, were net buyers of Doosan Enerbility worth 599.2 billion won over the same period, making it their top pick. Other heavily bought stocks included Hanwha Solutions (298.4 billion won), Celltrion (259.2 billion won), Amorepacific (158.4 billion won), and Hyosung Heavy Industries (157.9 billion won).
Notably, there was no overlap between the top five net-purchased stocks of retail and foreign investors. The performance gap was equally pronounced: the average return of the top five stocks bought by retail investors stood at -6.76%, while the average return of the top five stocks favored by foreign investors reached 18.73%. All five of the most heavily bought stocks by retail investors posted negative returns during the period.
Divergence was also evident in net selling trends. While foreign investors were the largest net buyers of Doosan Enerbility, retail investors were net sellers of the stock, unloading 732.9 billion won worth of shares. Retail investors also sold shares of Samsung Electronics (528.2 billion won), Hanwha Solutions (528.2 billion won), and Celltrion (457.3 billion won).
Conversely, foreign investors were heavy net sellers of SK hynix—the top retail pick—offloading shares worth 4.881 trillion won. This was followed by net selling of Samsung Electronics (2.167 trillion won), Hyundai Motor (754.8 billion won), and SK Square (526.2 billion won).
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
