Individual Investors Flee Volatile Korean Stocks for U.S. Index ETFs, Pumping 329.6 Billion Won Last Week

According to ETF Check, individual investors shifted heavily into U.S. benchmark index-tracking ETFs last week amid extreme volatility in South Korea's domestic market. TIGER U.S. S&P 500 ETF saw the largest inflows at 120.3 billion won, followed by KODEX U.S. Nasdaq 100 (85.1 billion won), KODEX U.S. S&P 500 (65.1 billion won), and TIGER U.S. Nasdaq 100 (59.1 billion won). These four products combined attracted 329.6 billion won in retail capital.

While the S&P 500 declined 0.66% and Nasdaq 100 fell 0.48% last week, KOSPI dropped 1.91% and exhibited extreme daily volatility exceeding 3% on most days. Separately, retail investors are rotating out of leveraged single-stock ETFs. KODEX SK Hynix 2x Leverage ETF saw the heaviest outflow at 159.2 billion won in net sales, with four leveraged single-stock products recording combined net outflows of 327.7 billion won. The shift follows South Korea's financial regulator announcement in July strengthening minimum deposit requirements for leverage trading.