South Korean retail investors continued buying U.S. equities while returning to South Korea’s junior KOSDAQ market. They net purchased $802.12 million, or approximately 1.1 trillion won, in U.S. stocks from August 20 to 26, extending the buying streak to two weeks, and bought 2.16 trillion won of KOSDAQ shares in August after net selling in June and July. In the United States, investors favored Merck, cryptocurrency-related companies, dividend funds and selected technology stocks while selling semiconductor shares excluding Nvidia. In South Korea, individuals concentrated purchases in growth stocks, particularly semiconductors, as the KOSDAQ rose 15.91% in August to 834.29, outperforming the KOSPI’s 3.40% gain by 12.51 percentage points, its widest monthly lead since November 2017. Foreign investors sold 1.84 trillion won of KOSDAQ shares.