Construction, machinery and other non-semiconductor sectors posted double-digit gains in August, while Samsung Electronics (005930) and SK hynix (000660) both slipped.
Rotation Takes Hold as Chip Giants Pause
The KOSPI rose 3.73% this month, according to the Korea Exchange on the 28th. But from the 3rd to the 27th, Samsung Electronics fell 0.95% to 260,000 won from 262,500 won. SK hynix declined 0.70% to 1.706 million won from 1.718 million won.
With the two chip heavyweights stalling, other sectors moved. Stocks that had been overlooked posted double-digit gains. Analysts attribute the buying to sectors where earnings improvement expectations overlapped with policy momentum.
Construction led all sectors. The construction index climbed 30.32% from the start of the month through the 27th. Kumho Engineering & Construction (002990) rose 77.06%, Xi S&D 72.50%, GS E&C (006360) 53.94%, Daewoo Engineering & Construction (047040) 49.84% and Hanmi Global 42.23%.
Machinery and equipment followed with a 17.56% gain. Metals rose 16.45%, chemicals 13.40%, general services 13.08% and telecommunications 11.92% over the same period.
Small and Mid-Caps Outperform as Foreign Money Rotates
Small and mid-cap stocks outperformed large caps. The KOSPI 200 gained just 2.86% this month. By contrast, the KOSPI index excluding KOSPI 200 constituents surged 11.77%, and the KOSPI 200 Small & Mid-Cap index jumped 15.33%.
Large caps rose 3.11%, while mid-caps gained 12.09% and small caps 9.13%. That marks a shift from earlier sessions in which a handful of large caps drove the index.
Foreign investor flows also shifted. Through the 27th, foreign investors sold 3.4641 trillion won ($2.5 billion) worth of Samsung Electronics and 1.3499 trillion won ($990 million) worth of SK hynix. The two stocks alone saw 4.814 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in outflows.
They instead bought 480.3 billion won worth of Samsung SDI (006400). Buying also flowed into LG Energy Solution (373220) at 251.4 billion won, NAVER (035420) at 234.2 billion won, Doosan Enerbility (034020) at 225.4 billion won and Korea Zinc (010130) at 218.4 billion won.
Foreign money also moved into construction, the month's best-performing sector. Foreign investors net bought 201.8 billion won worth of GS E&C, 164.6 billion won of Hyundai Engineering & Construction (000720) and 110.8 billion won of Daewoo Engineering & Construction. Combined net buying in the three stocks reached 477.2 billion won.
Brokerages read the trend not as the exit of semiconductor leadership but as a broadening market in which more sectors take the lead. Choi Jae-won, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities (039490), said, "Given that structural growth tied to AI continues while earnings momentum is spreading beyond its concentration in semiconductors, it is time to pay attention to sector diversification and rotation flows."
