Foreign investors were net sellers of 12.4 trillion won ($8.96 billion) of South Korean equities so far this month, including 12.1 trillion won ($8.74 billion) on the KOSPI from July 1 through July 16 and 340 billion won ($246 million) on the KOSDAQ over the same period. The KOSPI fell about 19.5% to 6,820.60 on July 16 from 8,476.48 on June 30. At the same time, overseas investors bought 600 billion won ($434 million) of locally listed exchange-traded funds, led by net purchases of 195 billion won in KODEX Leverage, 180 billion won in KODEX 200 and 130 billion won in KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X. Among single-stock leveraged ETFs, they bought 23 billion won of Samsung Electronics-related products and sold 122 billion won of SK Hynix-linked leveraged ETFs, pointing to a shift from direct stock holdings toward tactical ETF positioning during the market slump.