Foreign investors fuel Kospi rally with $2.2b buying spree
Foreign investors have poured roughly 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) into the nation's benchmark Kospi so far this month, helping to drive a strong bullish run in the local stock market.
Offshore investors net purchased shares worth 3.14 trillion won on the Kospi through Monday, continuing the buying spree that began in May, according to data from the Korea Exchange, the nation's bourse operator.
In May, foreign investors net bought 1.16 trillion won worth of Kospi shares, turning to buying for the first time since August 2024.
The rally continued on Tuesday, with foreign investors purchasing an additional 390 billion won worth of shares on the Kospi as of 2 p.m., pushing the index to 2,867.62 — up 11.85 points, or 0.41 percent, from the previous session.
The buying momentum has been partly fueled by growing expectations of political stability and reform following President Lee Jae-myung's election victory last week.
'With the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration, expectations for revisions to the Commercial Act and efforts to address the 'Korea Discount' have stimulated foreign investor inflows,' said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
'Protection of minority shareholder rights and improvements in corporate governance — longstanding demands from global investors — remain key themes. Foreign investment flows into the Korean stock market have clearly improved against this backdrop of policy-driven optimism and attractive valuations.'
Amid the offshore buying spree, shares of market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose as high as 60,400 won during intraday trading on Monday, surpassing the 60,000 won threshold for the first time since March 28. The stock later pared its gains, trading at 59,250 won as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The Kospi has emerged as the best-performing major stock market worldwide over the past week, outpacing key global indices such as Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Denmark's OMX Copenhagen 25, and Japan's Nikkei 225, according to a list of major world market indices compiled by financial platform Investing.com. While not exhaustive, the list features selected stock indices of significant size and market value.
Year-to-date, the Kospi has risen 19.36 percent, ranking as the eighth-best performer globally. It trails Poland's WIG 20 index — the top performer so far this year — which has surged 24.67 percent, placing the Kospi roughly five percentage points behind.
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