South Korean stock market saw foreign investors offload over 12 trillion won in July, Samsung and SK Hynix face starkly different fortunes

According to data from the Korea Exchange, foreign investors net sold approximately 12.44 trillion won of Korean stocks from July 1 to 16, with net selling of 12.10 trillion won on the KOSPI market and 338.1 billion won on the KOSDAQ market. Meanwhile, foreign investors bucked the trend by net purchasing approximately 593.7 billion won in Korean ETFs. Notably, both ETFs tracking the KOSPI 200 index and inverse ETFs betting on a market decline were among the top net purchases by foreign investors, indicating that foreign capital is not unilaterally bearish on the market but is hedging risks and responding to market volatility through a balanced allocation of long and short products.

Regarding single-stock leveraged ETFs, foreign investors showed divergent attitudes towards Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with the two companies experiencing starkly different fortunes. From July 1 to 16, foreign investors net purchased Samsung Electronics single-stock leveraged ETFs worth 22.7 billion won, but net sold SK Hynix-related leveraged ETFs by as much as 122.1 billion won. (Etoday)