À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Courtesy of Doosan]
Despite the ongoing upward trend in the Korean stock market, propelled by foreign net buying since mid-May, stocks beloved by individual investors ended up mostly negative last month.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Sunday, the average return of the top 10 stocks most heavily bought by individual investors in the Kospi market last in May was -2.46 percent. This stands in stark contrast to the benchmark index¡¯s 3.02 percent increase over the same period.
Among the top 10 stocks that individual investors predominantly bought last month were POSCO Holdings (496.6 billion won), LG Chem (270.2 billion), LG Household & Health Care (165.7 billion), NCSoft (161.5 billion), Doosan Fuel Cell (137.8 billion), Amorepacific (101 billion), Hanwha Solutions (100.8 billion), E-Mart (78.2 billion), KT&G (78.1 billion), and Korea Zinc (74.9 billion).
Among these stocks, only Doosan Fuel Cell generated a 2.6 percent return for individual investors. Doosan Fuel Cell shares soared to 19,480 won during trading on April 17 as it attracted attention as a beneficiary of the Yun Suk Yeol administration¡¯s initiative that reversed former President Moon Jae-in¡¯s nuclear phase-out policy and the South Korea-U.S. summit. However, concerns about the aftermath of a new rights offering led to a decline, with the stock falling to 15,140 on May 12. However, the stock rebounded after the company announced the commencement of the construction of the Shin Hanul 3 and 4 nuclear reactors on May 15. Except for five trading days last month, individual investors continued to have a net buying trend for Doosan Fuel Cell.
¡°Doosan Fuel Cell¡¯s nuclear power plant orders will increase from 1.7 trillion last year to 3.3 trillion this year, supported by projects such as Shin Hanul and small modular reactor (SMR) projects,¡± said Moon Kyeong-won, an analyst at Meritz Securities.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by MK DB]
Among the stocks, Amorepacific (-7.25 percent) experienced the largest decline, followed by LG Household & Health Care (-6.28 percent), E-Mart (-4.23 percent), POSCO Holdings (-2.52 percent), NCSoft (-2.49 percent), Korea Zinc (-2.03 percent), LG Chem (-1.3 percent), and Hanwha Solutions (-1.07 percent).
Individual investors are believed to have suffered losses after buying major stocks in industries such as cosmetics and secondary batteries, which had shown a positive trend in April.
¡°Large cosmetic companies that rebounded on expectations of China¡¯s reopening have returned their gains due to poor first-quarter performance and concerns about strained Sino-Korean relations,¡± said Han Yoo-jung, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.
Despite the Kospi¡¯s gains, retail investors are selling stocks to take profits. According to the Korea Exchange, individual investors were net sellers of 3.91 trillion won on the Kospi market last month. This compares with a net purchase of 4.63 trillion won by foreigners during the same period.
The retail investors bet on a decline in the Kospi market as they cleaned out their holdings. Last month, individual investors were net buyers of 222.6 billion won worth of KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X, which inversely tracks the daily return of the Kospi 200 futures index.
Despite the selling by individual investors, the financial investment industry forecast that the main bourse rally is likely to continue next month because foreign investment is expected to continue as the semiconductor industry rebounds and the country¡¯s outdoor shipments recover.
By Pulse
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]