As the KOSPI plunged sharply on Friday, even triggering a circuit breaker in the early morning session, foreigners' cumulative net sales over the past month have exceeded 30 trillion won.
Pension funds' net purchases during the same period remained in the range of 1 trillion won. Pension fund trading trends reflect transactions by public funds, including the National Pension Service (NPS), the largest institutional investor in Korea's domestic capital market. On this day, pension funds halted their five consecutive days of net buying and shifted to a net selling position.
According to the Korea Exchange, foreigners have made net sales of 30 trillion 345.5 billion won on the stock market from the 6th of last month until 10:01 a.m. on this day. During the same period, retail investors made net purchases of 13 trillion 975.6 billion won. The cumulative net purchases by pension funds stood at 1 trillion 232.1 billion won.
Foreigners have been making net sales for six consecutive trading days since the 30th of last month. The amount of net sales over the five trading days from the 30th of last month to the previous day was 10 trillion 209.8 billion won. Net sales on the previous day alone amounted to 3 trillion 794.3 billion won.
As of 10:01 a.m. on Friday, based on provisional figures, foreigners made net sales of 391.1 billion won. Retail investors also showed a net selling position of 95.6 billion won. Retail investors had made net purchases of 2 trillion 432.5 billion won the previous day but shifted to selling on this day.
Institutional investors are making net purchases of 399.1 billion won. Among institutional investors, financial investment firms bought 567.5 billion won worth of shares. Private equity funds and investment trusts showed net selling positions of 63.8 billion won and 53.8 billion won, respectively.
Pension funds are also making net sales of 32.4 billion won. Pension funds had been buying stocks for five consecutive trading days up to the previous day, resulting in net purchases of 1 trillion 422.2 billion won. The NPS is an institutional investor drawing focused attention on current trading trends amid the sharp stock price decline, as it postponed rebalancing of domestic stocks from this year through July.
In particular, there have been views suggesting that it could play a "firefighter" role by buying stocks during sharp declines to act as a support line for prices. However, the National Pension Service does not publicly disclose its individual real-time trading volumes or supply and demand conditions.
The NPS is known to have been selling domestic stocks even before rebalancing resumed in July last month. According to an official familiar with pension fund matters, the National Pension Service has not engaged in buying to increase its weight of domestic stocks since March-April last year, when the KOSPI index fell below the 2,500 mark due to U.S. tariff shocks.
However, it is reported that there were periods where the weight of domestic stocks increased because the valuation of held shares grew faster during sharp market rallies.
The KOSPI is down 8.39% from the previous trading day at 4,931.93. The circuit breaker was triggered at 9:03 a.m., halting trading for 20 minutes.
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