In the first half of the year, the value of overseas stocks and bonds held by domestic investors in South Korea surpassed $127 billion, reaching an all-time high. This surge was driven by heightened expectations surrounding AI semiconductor stocks, leading to a transaction amount increase of over 30% within just six months.
On July 18, the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) announced that as of the end of June, the amount of foreign securities (stocks and bonds) held by domestic investors was $127.33 billion. This figure represents a 22.2% increase from the end of the previous year, which stood at $104.19 billion, marking a record high. The settlement amount of foreign securities (purchases and sales) from January to June was $255.28 billion, up 31.6% from the second half of last year, which was $193.97 billion.
Breaking down the figures, the amount of foreign stocks held was $94.64 billion, reflecting a 23.1% increase from the end of last year. Foreign bonds also saw a significant rise, increasing by 19.6% to $32.69 billion. The United States dominated the market share, accounting for 73.6% of the total foreign securities holdings. When considering stocks alone, the U.S. share was an overwhelming 90.7%.
The top holdings in foreign stocks were all U.S. stocks. Nvidia’s holdings saw a remarkable jump from $4.364 billion at the end of last year to $13.098 billion at the end of June this year, an increase of over $8.7 billion, making it the top holding. Following Nvidia were Tesla with $11.873 billion, Apple with $4.71 billion, and Microsoft with $3.878 billion. The top 10 stocks accounted for 49% of the total foreign stock holdings.
The settlement amount for foreign stocks was $205.84 billion, a significant increase of 40.4% from the previous half-year period, which was $146.58 billion. This indicates that domestic investors, often referred to as ‘Seohak ants,’ were actively trading overseas stocks. Particularly, the amount of U.S. stock transactions reached $196.97 billion, accounting for 95.7% of the total.
Among individual stocks, the “Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares ETF,” which tracks the daily volatility of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index by three times, topped the settlement amount in the first half with $21.786 billion. Nvidia followed closely with $21.148 billion, and Tesla came in third with $13.241 billion. The “ProShares UltraPro QQQ ETF,” which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index by three times, recorded a trading volume of $6.099 billion, ranking fourth.
“As of the end of June, the amount of foreign securities (stocks and bonds) held by domestic investors was $127.33 billion, a 22.2% increase from the end of the previous year ($104.19 billion), marking a record high,” stated the Korea Securities Depository.
As the global financial landscape continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how these investment trends will develop in the coming months. However, the current data clearly indicates a robust and growing interest in foreign securities among South Korean investors, driven by both market opportunities and strategic investment decisions.