Signs of change are emerging in the trading flow of foreign investors, the "big players" in the domestic stock market who had been aggressively selling Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Recently, a buying trend has begun to appear for Samsung Electronics.
With the controversy over Solidigm's listing, which had weighed on investor sentiment toward SK Hynix, now resolved, attention is turning to whether foreign supply and demand will return across the semiconductor sector as a whole.
According to Korea Exchange (KRX) and financial investment industry sources on the 26th, foreign investors made net sales of 1428.5 billion won in the KOSPI over the past week from the 19th to the 26th. Considering that the cumulative net selling amount by foreigners this month has reached 19113.9 billion won, the intensity of selling appears to have eased somewhat.
In particular, a clear shift in foreign supply and demand was observed in large semiconductor stocks, which lead the domestic stock market. Over the past week, Samsung Electronics ranked first among foreign net purchases with 591.6 billion won in net buying.
In contrast, SK Hynix recorded net sales of approximately 1268.3 billion won over the same period, ranking first in foreign net selling. The trading directions diverged for these two stocks, which are the top and second-largest companies by domestic market capitalization and belong to the same semiconductor industry.
This also differs from the overall foreign trading trends this month. Since the beginning of the month, SK Hynix has been the top stock in foreign net selling, with net sales reaching 10707.4 billion won. Samsung Electronics followed with net sales of 4136.0 billion won. The combined foreign net selling amount for these two stocks exceeds 14 trillion won.
This is the result of a massive outflow of foreign funds centered on domestic Ban Do-che (CEO) stocks, as concerns over excessive investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry and global geopolitical uncertainties have come to the forefront.
However, expectations are rising that investor sentiment in the semiconductor sector may recover as foreign buying pressure has recently flowed into Samsung Electronics.
This is because foreigners are moving away from the trend of uniformly selling large semiconductor stocks and engaging in differentiated investments by individual stock.
Analysis also suggests expecting a shift in foreign investor sentiment toward SK Hynix, noting that the withdrawal of its U.S. grand-subsidiary Solidigm's listing could serve as a turning point for sentiment recovery. SK Hynix had been considering listing Solidigm on the U.S. stock market.
However, concerns over damage to parent company shareholder value and duplicate listings weighed on investor sentiment. The possibility of diluting shareholder value has been cited as a factor suppressing the stock price, separate from expectations for improved corporate performance.
In fact, following the decision to withdraw Solidigm's listing on the 23rd, SK Hynix's stock price rose by 4.42%. It also briefly recovered to 1.3 million won during trading that day. Although it closed at 1.275 million won, down 0.16% from the previous trading day due to late-session selling, investor anxiety has eased somewhat overall as the individual negative factor was resolved by the listing withdrawal.
Expectations for additional shareholder return policies are also growing. SK Hynix disclosed on the same day that it "plans to announce additional shareholder return measures at its Q3 earnings release after board approval."
It is expected that if specific shareholder return plans are presented in the earnings release scheduled for the 28th, it will bolster improvements in investor sentiment.
Kim Sun-woo, a research analyst at Meritz Securities, said, "The withdrawal of Solidigm's listing has drawn attention to SK Hynix's strong will regarding shareholder returns," and predicted that "a valuation approaching historic lows combined with strengthened shareholder return measures to be detailed in the Q3 earnings release will drive an effective stock price rebound."
The medium- to long-term profit growth trend of semiconductor companies is also a factor fueling expectations for a recovery in foreign supply and demand.
Despite recent sharp drops in stock prices, assessments hold that the outlook for improved performance at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix remains valid. This implies that short-term sentiment contraction due to global uncertainties should be distinguished from companies' medium- to long-term profit-generating capabilities.
Kim Dong-won, head of the Research Division at KB Securities, said, "Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are projected to have a combined operating profit over the next two years that reaches 2.1 times their cumulative operating profit over the past 26 years."
He added, "It is now time to focus on future profit growth and the possibility of valuation normalization rather than pessimism already reflected in stock prices."
in STOCK
