Institutional and individual investors' views on pharmaceutical stocks sharply divided in the first month of 2022.
Stock market pharmaceutical sector index companies’ net purchase and sales in January (Unit: \100 million)
According to the Korea Exchange, institutional and foreign investors’ net selling of 45 companies registered on the pharmaceutical index amounted to 416.9 billion ($348.3 million) and 315.8 billion won, respectively, in January. Of the 45 companies, there were only 15 stocks whose purchases exceeded sales, with nine of the purchases remaining below 100 million won.
Only Yungjin Pharm and Chong Kun Dang Holdings recorded net purchases of more than 1 billion won by institutional investors. However, their scales of net purchases were not large, standing at 3.7 billion and 1 billion won.
In contrast, selling exceeded buying in 30 stocks, and five of them -- Celltrion, Samsung Biologics, SK Bioscience, Yuhan, and GC -- registered net sales of more than 10 billion won.
Celltrion's net sales were the largest with 223.9 billion won, followed by Samsung Biologics' 95.4 billion won and SK Bioscience's 64.5 billion won.
Foreigners’ investment sentiment in pharmaceutical stocks also cooled down. Foreign investors net sold 33 pharma stocks while net buying only 12 stocks.
Samsung BioLogics was the most sold stock by foreigners with net sales of 190.8 billion won, followed by Shinpoong Pharmaceutical, SK Bioscience, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corp., and Hanmi Pharmaceutical.
In contrast to institutional investors, however, foreigners' net purchases of Celltrion totaled 145.2 billion won, leaning toward one side.
Unlike institutions and foreign investors, individual investors remained loyal to pharma stocks in January.
Out of the 45 constituents of the pharmaceutical index, individuals’ net buying exceeded net selling by 36 vs. nine.
Of the nine pharmaceutical stocks where individual investors sold more than their purchases, none exceeded 10 billion won.
Individual investors showed a tendency to focus on large-cap stocks, with Samsung Biologics accounting for the most net purchase with 269 billion won, followed by SK Bioscience (80.4 billion won), Yuhan Corp. (32.7 billion won), Shinpoong Pharmaceutical (30.2 billion won), Hanmi Pharm (18.9 billion won), and Daewoong (16.9 billion won).