(Bloomberg) — South Korean retail investors have boosted their holdings of U.S. stocks to more than $100 billion for the first time, amid growing interest in Big Tech stocks and hedge funds.
Most read from Bloomberg
Mom-and-pop traders collectively owned $101.4 billion worth of U.S. stocks as of Nov. 7, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository. That is a jump of 64% compared to all of last year.
More and more individual traders are investing directly in U.S. stocks in search of better returns as Korea’s Kospi index ranks among the world’s worst performers this year. On the other hand, they have sold a net 4.4 trillion won ($3.2 billion) worth of shares in the benchmark so far in 2024, despite authorities’ efforts to revive the local stock market by improving business practices .
Assets in volatile sectors such as cryptocurrencies and technology stocks were among their top holdings. The most popular stock among Korean investors was Tesla Inc., with individual investors holding a combined $16.7 billion last week, according to depository bank data. Traders also held $13.8 billion in Nvidia Corp. shares, $4.6 billion in Apple Inc. shares. and a $3.6 billion stake in Microsoft Corp.
Read: Musk’s Korean fans hope to get rich with $15 billion Tesla stake
Exchange-traded funds tracking U.S. technology stocks were also in high demand. The companies on the list of their top six investments include an ETF that targets three times the daily gains of the Nasdaq 100 Index, and another fund that aims to achieve three times the daily gains on U.S. chip stocks.
–With help from Hooyeon Kim.
Most read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 BloombergLP
