As the Kospi index has been setting record highs day after day, foreign and domestic institutional investors are scooping up Samsung Electronics and SK hynix shares. They made net purchases of more than 4 trillion won over the past month.
According to Korea Exchange statistics on the 21st, from the 19th of last month to the 19th of this month, foreigners and domestic institutions made net purchases of 4.3747 trillion won in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix shares.
Buoyed by foreign and institutional buying, Samsung Electronics' share price (closing price on the 19th) surged to 79,700 won. It is just shy of the previous peak of 80,200 won (Aug. 16 last year). SK hynix shares climbed to 355,500 won on the 18th, hitting an all-time high again.
Over the past month, foreigners bought 2.6597 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares and 1.715 trillion won worth of SK hynix shares.
Foreign investors in particular bought 1.0245 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares in a single day on the 16th. This was the only day in the past year when foreigners' net purchases of Samsung Electronics exceeded 1 trillion won.
Domestic institutions were tallied to have made net purchases of 1.3798 trillion won of Samsung Electronics and 468.8 billion won of SK hynix over the month.
Individual investors made the opposite choice. During the same period, individuals net sold as much as 5.3056 trillion won of Samsung Electronics shares. They sold 2.1043 trillion won worth of SK hynix shares.
Individuals instead chose Hanwha Ocean. They bought 673.3 billion won worth of Hanwha Ocean shares over the month. Samsung SDI (358.6 billion won), SK Telecom (191.8 billion won), and Alteogen (159.6 billion won), the No. 1 stock on the Kosdaq by market capitalization, also ranked high in individual net purchases.
The concentration of foreign and institutional demand in the two major semiconductor stocks is seen as due to a string of positives, including word that Samsung Electronics' fifth-generation high bandwidth memory (HBM) HBM3E 12-high product passed Nvidia's quality test and growing expectations for expanded liquidity as the United States cuts its benchmark interest rate.
Brokerages are also raising their target prices for the two stocks day after day. Hanwha Investment & Securities on the 19th sharply raised its target price for Samsung Electronics from 84,000 won to 110,000 won. Researcher Kim Gwang-jin said, "Memory semiconductor earnings, centered on DRAM, will improve significantly, and as a result, third-quarter operating profit will rise 129% from the previous quarter to 10.7 trillion won."
Kim also projected that losses in Samsung Electronics' foundry unit would narrow. He explained, "As the impact of one-off expense recognition disappears and utilization in sub-7-nanometer leading-edge processes generally increases, the burden of fixed costs will improve rapidly."
In addition to Hanwha Investment & Securities, IBK Securities, SK Securities, Hana Securities, NH Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Securities, and Meritz Securities are presenting target prices for Samsung Electronics in the mid-90,000 won to 110,000 won range.
Target prices for SK hynix are also rising day after day. SK Securities raised its target from 300,000 won to 480,000 won, while BNK Investment & Securities and Hyundai Motor Securities also presented targets in the 400,000 won range.
As demand concentrates on the two large-cap semiconductor stocks, the Kospi index is continuing its rally. The Kospi index rose to as high as 3,467.89 intraday on the 19th, once again setting an all-time record.