The stocks most heavily bought by high-performing investors at Mirae Asset Securities (006800.KS) on the morning of the 25th were Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Samsung Electronics preferred shares, in that order.
According to Mirae Asset Securities, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) was the most net-bought stock through 11 a.m. that morning among "top stock traders" — clients ranking in the top 1% by investment return over the past month.
At that time, Samsung Electronics was trading at 251,750 won, down 2.04% from the previous session. Overnight in the U.S. market, chip stocks fell across the board — Micron Technology dropped 5.9%, SanDisk 6.5% and Nvidia 2.9% — extending selling pressure to Korean chipmakers.
The shareholder return plan unveiled by Samsung Electronics also weighed on the stock, as it was seen as falling short of the market's heightened expectations. Samsung said its return resources this year would reach 90 trillion to 110 trillion won under its existing policy of returning 50% of cumulative free cash flow (FCF) from 2024 to 2026. Of that, 30 trillion won will be used for third-quarter cash dividends, while the specific method for returning the remaining 60 trillion to 80 trillion won will be decided in January next year, when this year's earnings are finalized.
While that would be the largest annual shareholder return by a Korean company on record, it was seen as falling short of market expectations, which had counted on up to 140 trillion won in returns and large-scale share buybacks and cancellations on the back of a strong chip cycle. Choi Bo-young, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, said, "It is hard to call this a 'surprise return' in that it fell short of an aggressive expansion of share buybacks and cancellations, but we view it positively in that the direction of the capital allocation policy has become clearer, rather than the size of the return itself."
SK hynix and Samsung Electronics preferred shares took second and third place in net buying, respectively. SK hynix (000660.KS) was trading at 1,599,000 won, down a sharp 4.31% from the previous session.
The next turning point for global markets is seen as Nvidia's earnings release, scheduled for the 26th local time. Analysts say that if Nvidia's earnings and its outlook for future artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand meet market expectations, investor sentiment toward chip stocks, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, could recover.
The stock most heavily net-sold by top traders that day was Hanmi Pharmaceutical (128940.KS). As of 11 a.m., Hanmi Pharmaceutical was trading at 471,000 won, down 12.78% from the previous session. The selling was read as profit-taking after the stock surged to its daily upper limit the previous day on news of a large-scale licensing-out deal for its obesity drug candidate "HM17321."
Following Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Samsung SDI and Silicon2 ranked among the top net-sold stocks. In the previous session, the top net-bought stocks were Samsung Electronics, Hanmi Pharmaceutical and D'Alba Global, while the top net-sold were TLB, LG Household & Health Care and Hyundai Motor.
Mirae Asset Securities compiles the trades of investors ranking in the top 1% by return over the past month among its clients, and discloses them on its mobile trading system (MTS) on a real-time, prior-day and recent five-day basis. This statistical data is simple information that is unrelated to the views of Mirae Asset Securities and does not guarantee investment or returns suited to any individual investor. Investors should also be cautious, as theme stocks carry the risk of abnormal price swings.
