Since the start of the Middle East war, high-net-worth individuals have been selling nuclear power and defense stocks and concentrating their investments in semiconductor stocks, data show. It appears they used the revenue earned from defense stocks, whose prices rose on the war, to buy semiconductor stocks on the dip.
On the 5th, according to trading trends in domestic stocks by high-net-worth individuals obtained by Yonhap News at the request of Samsung Securities, their top net buys in March were Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Samsung Securities classified customers with assets of 3 billion won or more as "high-net-worth individuals."
Until February, before the Middle East war, they focused on buying Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor. But in March, the weight of Hyundai Motor decreased while that of SK hynix jumped.
Buying interest in Samsung Electronics also strengthened. Net purchases of Samsung Electronics were 156 billion won in January–February, but they bought an additional 114.3 billion won in March alone. By contrast, Hyundai Motor did not make the top five net buys, and interest fell sharply.
Ranking third in net buys among high-net-worth individuals was "KODEX Leverage" at 20.8 billion won. This exchange-traded fund, which tracks twice the gains of the KOSPI200 index, reflects expectations for a rise in stock prices. Fifth was the newly launched "KODEX KOSDAQ Active," which quickly climbed into the upper ranks at 13.9 billion won.
On the top net-sell list, Doosan Enerbility ranked first, followed by HANMI Semiconductor, LG Chem and Hanwha Aerospace.