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Photo courtesy of Korea Exchange |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] High-net-worth investors using major Korean brokerage firms have been aggressively buying growth stocks, according to recent trading data.
According to Korea Investment & Securities on February 22, clients with an average account balance of at least KRW 1 billion purchased Kakao the most over the past week, with net purchases totaling KRW 4.25 billion. Kakao posted record results last year, reporting revenue of KRW 8 trillion and operating profit of KRW 700 billion, the highest since its founding. Strong performance in the platform segment, driven by a revamp of KakaoTalk, underpinned earnings. Kakao shares are down 17.76% from their peak in June last year.
G2GBio (KRW 2.57 billion) and JS Link (KRW 2.33 billion) ranked second and third, respectively, in net purchases. G2GBio holds a long-acting injectable drug platform and has seen its share price rise about 40% this year on treatment-related achievements. JS Link’s shares have surged 112% year-to-date after expanding from genome-based services into rare-earth permanent magnets, a key material for electric vehicles and the semiconductor industry.
The TIGER KOSDAQ 150 ETF ranked fourth with KRW 2.13 billion in net buying, as investors responded to government measures to revitalize the KOSDAQ market and the Korea Exchange’s plans to delist underperforming companies.
Meanwhile, top-performing investors—the top 1% by returns—using Mirae Asset Securities purchased SK Telecom the most during the same period. The buying was attributed to news highlighting SK Telecom’s stake in U.S.-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
These investors also actively accumulated shares of LIVSMED, Celltrion, KEPCO Industrial Development, and Korea Aerospace Industries.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
