NPS, Other Pension Funds Turn Net Buyers of South Korean Shares in July

According to Yonhap, pension funds including the National Pension Service (NPS) became net buyers of South Korean equities in July for the first time this year, purchasing a net 68.4 billion won ($46.8 million) of shares on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) through July 24, Korea Exchange data showed. The move followed six straight months of net selling, and pension funds were net buyers on 11 of the first 17 trading sessions in July. SK hynix drew the biggest net purchase at 425.8 billion won, followed by SK Innovation at 224.7 billion won and S-Oil at 174.4 billion won, while SK Square, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Samsung Life Insurance were among the stocks they sold. Analysts said pension funds were likely to remain net buyers through the end of July, even though some had expected the NPS to resume portfolio rebalancing after a temporary suspension ended in June. The NPS had raised its target allocation to domestic equities to 14.9% in January and 20.8% in May after the KOSPI surged this year, though the index has since pulled back from above 9,000 in mid-June to around 7,000 amid foreign selling and concerns over AI investment.