Koreans buy $2.7 billion Tesla shares this year, favorite foreign stock

Tesla, Inc. was the investors’ choice in South Korea this year, ahead of other overseas stocks.

According to the Korea Securities Depository headquartered in the port city of Busan, investors in Korea purchased a whopping $2.74 billion worth of Tesla shares in 2022. 

That makes the Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company the most preferred overseas stock for investors here by volume. 

Korean investors possess accumulated $6.81 billion worth of Tesla shares, accounting for 1.75% of the total shares of the EV company worldwide. 

Investors in Korea jumped on a buying spree in October when Tesla shares began to slide. Koreans purchased $1.1 billion worth of Tesla shares in the last three months alone.

But as the price began to decline further, many recent investors are thought to have suffered significant losses. 

Tesla was worth above $300 per share in late September but closed Monday’s trade at $123.35. 

Analysts say the falling demand for electric cars and Musk’s sale of Tesla shares to purchase social media platform Twitter were the main reasons behind the price plunge.

Write to Eui-Myung Park at uimyung@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.