'Absolutely crazy': Here's what South Korean stock investors are doing in U.S. markets

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul. Kim Jae-Hwan | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesA wave of South Korean investors is flocking to U.S. markets to avoid a correction at home, even as global investors pile in. Korean retail investors net sold domestic stocks for most of last week, even as the benchmark index entered bull market territory, according to Korea Exchange data. Overseas investors reversed course to become net buyers. Here are five things related to those investors:Buying ADRsOf the $4.5 billion in U.S. stocks Korean investors net bought in July, around $840 million went into the chipmaker's U.S.-listed depositary receipts, according to Korea Securities Depository data. SK Hynix's ADRs were the second most net-purchased U.S. securities, even though Korean investors can buy the same company directly at home. The U.S. receipts have traded at a premium to the Korean shares, which Owen Lamont, senior vice president of Acadian Asset Management, said was about 10% recently. They're also exhibiting greater volatility. "That's absolutely crazy," Lamont said of Korean investors buying SK Hynix's U....