Shares of firms with higher foreign ownership gain more

South Korea's listed companies with increased foreign ownership saw their share prices climb relatively more than their peers this month, data showed Thursday.

According to the data by Daishin Securities Co., the top 20 issues in terms of foreign ownership gains reported an average return rate of 6.32 percent in the first 23 days of August.

The yield rate dwarfed the comparable 1.67 percent for the entire main KOSPI market. Out of the 20 companies, 15 saw their share prices gain ground.

Electronic component distributor Uniquest Corp., whose foreign shareholdings rose 1.99 percentage points from July 29, topped the list with a share price increase of 25.3 percent.

Halla Holdings Corp. came next with 20.5 percent, trailed by electric car battery maker Samsung SDI Co. with 15.6 percent and No. 1 moving solutions provider Hyundai Elevator Co. with 13.8 percent.

On the secondary KOSDAQ market, the top 20 companies in terms of foreign shareholding increases saw their share prices climb an average 16.8 percent, far outperforming the overall market gain of 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, top cap Samsung Electronics Co., whose share price recently renewed its all-time high for four sessions on end, saw its foreign ownership inch down this month. After peaking at 51.25 percent on Aug. 1, foreign ownership of Samsung Electronics fell to 50.99 percent as of Tuesday.

Shares of Samsung Electronics closed at 1,687,000 won ($1,506) on Tuesday, up 7.59 percent from the beginning of the month.

"Foreign investors have been recording relatively high rates of returns on the domestic stock market since the start of this year," said Kim Se-chan, an analyst at Daishin Securities. "Despite foreign selling, Samsung's share price has been on the rise, bolstered by share buybacks and institutional buying." (Yonhap)