SEOUL– The number of stock investors in South Korea spiked more than 50 percent on-year in 2021 to breach the 10 million mark amid a retail investment boom, industry data showed Thursday.
A total of 13.84 million investors held shares in 2,426 companies listed on the country’s main and secondary bourses, up 50.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository.
Those investors owned shares in an average 5.96 companies, up 13.7 percent from a year earlier, but per-capita holdings sank 28.1 percent on-year to 7,747 shares.
Retail investors in those corporations closing their books in December numbered 13.74 million, or 99.2 percent of the total.
Local corporate investors stood at 39,000, with foreign individuals and institutions reaching 31,000.
By company, investors holding shares in top-cap Samsung Electronics Co. were the largest group at 5.61 million, up nearly 90 percent from a year earlier.
Kakao Corp., the operator of KakaoTalk, South Korea’s top mobile messenger, came next with 1.92 million, followed by leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. with 1.18 million.
Offshore investors held 50 percent or more of shares in 34 local listed companies, down five from a year earlier, with Tongyang Life Insurance Co. posting the highest foreign ownership ratio of 82.5 percent.
People in their 40s took up the largest portion of retail investors at 23 percent, or 3.17 million, with those in their 50s holding the largest number of shares at 18.3 billion, or 33.7 percent of the total.
Male investors numbered 7.27 million, or 53 percent of the total stock investors, while they held 38.6 billion shares, or 71.1 percent of individual investors’ combined share holdings.
Source: Yonhap News Agency