(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean stocks heavily bought by foreign investors shined on the main stock market, while such issues fared far worse on the tech-heavy secondary market, sources said Friday.
The average return of the 10 most heavily purchased stocks by offshore investors stood at a whopping 66.5 percent in the year to Wednesday, nearly triple the overall 22.7 percent yield of the main bourse.
As of Wednesday, none of the stocks saw their prices decline compared with the beginning of the year.
Apparel maker and distributer F&F, whose foreign ownership jumped 11.9 percent over the cited period, posted the highest price gain of 153.8 percent, followed by construction equipment maker DY Power Corp. with 110.3 percent, LG Electronics Inc. with 99.6 percent and Lotte HiMart Co. with 66.9 percent.
In contrast, prices of the 10 most heavily purchased stocks by foreigners on the KOSDAQ market performed much poorer, with only three of them posting positive returns.
Botox maker Hugel Inc., whose foreign ownership jumped 27 percent this year, chalked up the highest return of 57 percent over the cited period. Communications equipment maker Nuri Telecom Corp. came next with 8.7 percent, trailed by telecom parts maker INNO Instrument Inc. with 3.3 percent.
The remaining seven companies posted negative returns ranging from 3.7 percent to 51.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the main stock market registered a foreign fund inflow of 6.7 trillion won (US$6.2 billion) over the cited period, while the minor bourse received 2.8 trillion won.
(Yonhap)
