As the fluctuating tariff policy of the Trump administration greatly unsettled the U.S. stock market, personal investment funds are rapidly returning to the domestic market. There has been a surge in purchasing of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) that track the domestic market instead of the U.S. stock market. In contrast, the net purchase scale of ETFs investing in the U.S. stock market has somewhat slowed.
According to KOSCOM ETF Check, as of the 11th, the most net purchased item by individual investors was "KODEX Leverage." This ETF tracks the daily fluctuation rate at twice the rate of the KOSPI 200 index increase. On that day, individual investors net purchased 68.9 billion won worth of KODEX Leverage.
Following KODEX Leverage, the next most invested ETFS by individual investors were "KODEX KOSDAQ 150 Leverage" (37.5 billion won), "KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call" (11.6 billion won), and "KODEX 200" (10.8 billion won). All track domestic indices.
In particular, individual investors have purchased a total of 181.8 billion won worth of these stocks from the 4th to the 11th of this month. This is more than the amount spent on ETFs tracking U.S. indices. During the same period, the net purchase scale of ETFs tracking the U.S. S&P 500 index (ACE U.S. S&P 500, KIWOOM U.S. S&P 500, KODEX U.S. S&P 500, TIGER U.S. S&P 500, WON U.S. S&P 500, SOL U.S. S&P 500) was 77.6 billion won. On the 11th, individual investors also net sold 14.4 billion won worth of TIGER U.S. S&P 500 ETF.
Individual investors, who had been focused on investing in the U.S. stock market, are now turning their attention to ETFs tracking the domestic indices. An analysis of the trading volume of ETFs tracking the KOSPI index found that individual investors net purchased 1.2 billion won worth of five KOSPI tracking ETFs (ACE KOSPI, KODEX KOSPI, PLUS KOSPI, RISE KOSPI, TIGER KOSPI). Although the trading volume is not large, considering that they net sold 3.8 billion won the previous month, it seems that investment sentiment toward the domestic market has changed significantly.
This is interpreted as reflecting the recent trend where our stock market has performed well amidst the intensifying tariff war originating from the U.S. Recently, the U.S. stock market has surged and plummeted every time there is an announcement regarding the tariff policy from the Trump administration. On the 10th, President Trump mentioned the possibility of an economic recession, causing the New York stock market to fall back to the level before President Trump's election.
In contrast, our stock market is showing relatively resilient trends. Generally, when the U.S. stock market sharply declines overnight, investor sentiment towards our stock market also becomes subdued. However, recently, even after the U.S. stock market declines, the KOSPI index has either slightly fallen or shown increases. Although the U.S. stock market fell on the night of the 11th, the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices started with an upward momentum on the 12th.
Lee Jae-won, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corporation, analyzed that "the emerging market stock markets, which present price attractiveness, are relatively strong compared to the uncertain U.S. stock market influenced by tariffs."