Kospi tumbles as foreign selling streak hits 20 days; top investors buy dip in Jensen Huang plays

The Kospi barely held above the 8,000 mark Friday as foreign investors extended their net selling streak, the won weakened and a global semiconductor pullback triggered by Broadcom weighed on the market. Even so, the top 1 percent of retail investors — so-called "super traders" — used the decline to snap up stocks seen as beneficiaries of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to Seoul. Foreign net selling has now run for 20 consecutive trading days, and the cumulative total since the start of the year has surpassed 116 trillion won (about $75.9 billion), a record high.

According to Korea Exchange, the Kospi closed Friday down 478.82 points, or 5.54 percent, at 8,160.59. Foreign investors and institutions sold a net 3.5391 trillion won and 939.8 billion won, respectively, dragging the index lower. Foreign investors have now posted net selling for 20 straight trading days, setting yet another all-time record for cumulative net selling.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrived in South Korea on Friday and said he had "a surprise gift prepared for Korea," but the anticipation appeared to have already been priced in and did little to lift the index.

According to Mirae Asset Securities, high-performing investors trading through the brokerage bought NAVER, SK Hynix and LG Electronics on a net basis during morning trading. Mirae Asset Securities defines high-performing investors as those whose investment returns ranked in the top 1 percent among its equity trading customers over the past month.

NAVER topped the net purchase ranking. The stock was trading down 5.98 percent from the previous session at 251,500 won as of 11 a.m. before closing down 4.49 percent at 255,500 won.

Stocks linked to Jensen Huang's visit had already softened Thursday as investors took profits, but the super traders appeared to view the pullback as a buying opportunity.

SK Hynix ranked second in net purchases, closing down 9.92 percent from the previous session at 2,070,000 won.

Semiconductor stocks in the United States, including Broadcom and Micron, fell sharply overnight, pulling domestic chip shares down in tandem. Despite the selloff, analysts said the super traders increased their buying, driven by medium- to long-term optimism about the semiconductor industry outlook.

LG Electronics came in third. The stock was trading down 8.38 percent from the previous session at 300,500 won as of 11 a.m. and closed down 7.62 percent at 303,000 won.

LG Electronics and other group affiliates had surged recently on expectations surrounding Jensen Huang's visit and potential AI cooperation but have since pulled back — a dip the super traders moved to exploit.

Mirae Asset Securities, Samsung Electronics and Dongjin Semichem also appeared among the top net purchase picks. Interest in AI semiconductor and memory chip names continues as expectations for an industry recovery persist.

On the selling side, Samsung SDI topped the super traders' net sell list in morning trading. The stock closed down 6.43 percent from the previous session at 568,000 won. Samsung Electro-Mechanics ranked second on the sell list, though its share price rose 2.39 percent to close at 1,757,000 won.

The foreign selling streak ran from May 7 through Friday, spanning 20 consecutive trading days. From the start of the year through Thursday, foreign investors sold a net 116.6 trillion won worth of Kospi-listed shares, excluding exchange-traded funds — a record that far surpasses the roughly 25 trillion won in net selling during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the approximately 62 trillion won recorded during the 2007–2008 global financial crisis.

이지혜 “유튜브 월 수익 1200만원, 남편이 상사처럼 대해”

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