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| The logo of Samsung Electronics in front of its office building in Seoul / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
Retail investors have returned to a buying spree of Samsung Electronics shares amid the dwindling stock performance of secondary battery firms, data showed Tuesday.
According to the Korea Exchange, individual investors purchased Samsung shares worth 349 billion won ($265.86 million) between Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, shifting their position from a month earlier when few of them paid attention to semiconductor stocks due to then-soaring battery shares. Retail investors sold Samsung shares worth 549 billion won in July.
Other data also showed that more investors are moving to reduce battery portions in their stock portfolios. POSCO Holdings, which shared its ambitious vision to expand sales in the secondary battery materials business, was the most sought-after stock in the local stock market last month, with retail investors' net-buying of 4.5 trillion won worth of shares. However, the figure is sharply declining, at around 300 billion won so far this month.
Shares of the POSCO holding firm soared to a new high of 764,000 won per share late last month, but have since been on a downward trajectory to around 600,000 won as of Tuesday.
Even if Samsung Electronics shares have not yet regained momentum for a rally, securities firms are on track to revise the target price of Samsung Electronics and major semiconductor stocks here.
"Samsung's earnings are forecast to achieve recovery amid growing demand for high bandwidth memory chips," SK Securities analyst Han Dong-hee said. The brokerage house also revised the firm's target stock price to 100,000 won per share from an earlier outlook of 90,000 won. Samsung Electronics shares are hovering around 67,000 won per share as of Tuesday.
Other data from economic institutions also showed that semiconductor exports would bounce back soon.
According to the Korea Development Institute, chip exports are on schedule for a solid recovery experienced in recent months. Semiconductor exports rose by 8.1 percent in May from a year earlier, with the figure soaring by 21.6 percent the following month.
SK hynix, another large-cap chipmaker here, also topped the list as foreign investors' most favored stock this month. They purchased 132.4 billion won worth of the firm's shares over the past five trading days in August.
The move is seen as part of a growing preference for safer assets after investor concerns about the extreme price volatility of battery shares in recent weeks.
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