South Korean Retail Investors Sell U.S. Semiconductor Stocks and Buy Leveraged ETF

South Korean retail investors cut holdings in several U.S. semiconductor stocks and increased purchases of leveraged semiconductor ETFs from September 1 to 4, according to data from a Korean securities information portal. According to Odaily, they sold more than $100 million of Micron, $68.61 million of SanDisk, $49.37 million of Marvell Technology, and $15.56 million of Nvidia, while also selling $46.16 million of SK Hynix ADRs, which had seen cumulative net buying of $811 million through the end of August. At the same time, they bought $431 million of SOXL, or Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares, which aims to deliver three times the daily return of the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Market analysts said the shift from individual stocks to sector ETFs may reflect efforts to reduce single-company risk while maintaining exposure to the semiconductor sector.