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Kospi rally continues as foreign investors lead in stock purchases

Published: 04 May. 2026, 09:48

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on April 30. [NEWS1]

Foreign investors outperformed retail investors by more than three times in Korea's stock market last month, according to the Korea Exchange on Sunday.

The top 10 stocks by net foreign purchases on the main securities market averaged a return of 57.3 percent last month, exceeding the Kospi's overall gain of 30.6 percent over the same period.

Samsung Electronics shares, the top net foreign purchase, rose 32 percent over the month. SK hynix shares, the third-most bought, gained 59 percent, driven by first-quarter earnings and expectations of an AI-led recovery in the semiconductor sector.

Doosan Enerbility shares, the second-most bought by foreign investors, returned 39 percent on expectations of a boom in power infrastructure demand driven by surging AI data center construction. Shares of railway, defense and plant equipment manufacturer Hyundai Rotem ranked fourth among foreign net purchases, followed by shares of battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, energy company SK Innovation and beauty-tech APR.

Retail investors, by contrast, saw the top 10 stocks by net purchases return an average of just 18.3 percent — below the market average. Retail investors bought most heavily into power equipment stock LS Electric, which surged 93.6 percent.

Returns were dragged down, however, by weakness in entertainment and bio stocks. K-pop powerhouse HYBE shares, the fourth-most purchased stock among retail investors, fell 12 percent last month after news broke that police had applied for an arrest warrant for chairman Bang Si-hyuk on charges of fraudulent trading. Samsung Biologics shares, the seventh-most bought, fell 2.3 percent.

Shares of Naver, Hanwha Ocean, Kia and Korea Aerospace Industries — the second, third, fifth and sixth most purchased by retail investors, respectively — all recorded single-digit gains.

The gap in returns is attributed to the contrasting strategies of foreign investors, who rode stocks already on the move, and retail investors, who concentrated on names that had entered a decline or period of stagnation.

Securities industry analysts warn that this month could see heightened short-term volatility following last month's sharp Kospi surge.

"Even if the medium-to-long-term upward trend based on earnings fundamentals remains intact, this is a point where short-term fluctuations driven by retreating sentiment must be factored in," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY PARK YU-MI [[email protected]]