Seoul, Nov 16 (NationPress) The net acquisitions of foreign stocks by individual investors in South Korea have achieved a remarkable peak for a half-month timeframe in November, as reported by officials on Sunday. Local investors made net purchases of US$3.63 billion in overseas stocks during the first two weeks of this month, more than doubling the $1.77 billion recorded in the same period last month, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository and the Korea Center for International Finance, as noted by Yonhap news agency.

The majority of these purchases were focused on U.S. stocks, with retail investors also investing $180 million in European shares, $170 million in Hong Kong shares, and $150 million in Chinese shares. In contrast, Japanese stocks experienced a net sell-off totaling $350 million.

In a remarkable move, investors net bought $560 million of Meta Platforms Inc., anticipating a rebound after the stock experienced a significant decline, approaching the $600 mark this month.

This recent uptick in overseas stock acquisitions coincides with net sales of domestic stocks by foreign investors.

Data from the Korea Exchange indicates that foreign investors have been actively engaging in substantial profit-taking within the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) market, recording cumulative net sales of 9.12 trillion won.

Earlier, South Korean individual investors achieved a historic high in overseas stock purchases in October.

During October, local retailers acquired a net total of US$6.81 billion in foreign stocks, nearly 2.5 times the $2.77 billion recorded the prior month, per data from the Korea Center for International Finance (KCIF).

The majority of these purchases were concentrated in U.S. stocks, totaling $6.85 billion.

Notably, investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and technology stocks surged from $1.62 billion in September to $3.25 billion last month, representing 47.4 percent of total U.S. stock purchases.