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Photo = Yonhap news |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] In the past month, foreign investors have focused on buying Naver shares, purchasing a total of approximately 620 billion KRW, making it the largest single-stock purchase. Thanks to this influx of foreign buying, Naver's stock has steadily risen since hitting a low point in September.
Analysts believe that Naver has bottomed out in both its earnings and market conditions, and the growing expectations surrounding its accumulated artificial intelligence (AI) technology are expected to provide further upward momentum.
According to the Korea Exchange, on the 22nd, Naver's stock closed at 190,000 KRW, up 0.16% (300 KRW) from the previous day. This marks a 24.5% increase from the low of 152,500 KRW on September 9. On the 19th, Naver's stock price reached 194,200 KRW during the day, the highest in six months since May.
The steady rise in Naver's stock price is attributed to active foreign buying, which has supported the stock's upward movement. From September 25 to October 22, foreign investors bought a total of 612.5 billion KRW worth of Naver shares, more than three times the amount purchased by Samsung Heavy Industries (184.5 billion KRW), the second-largest net buyer. During this period, foreign investors also sold about 4.4 trillion KRW worth of shares on the main bourse, highlighting the strong preference for Naver.
Foreign investment surged significantly following the release of Naver's third-quarter earnings. On November 11, Naver reported a 11.1% year-on-year increase in revenue to 2.71 trillion KRW and a 38.2% increase in operating profit to 525.3 billion KRW, the highest quarterly operating profit in the company's history.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
