SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- Local investors are again borrowing a large amount in loans to buy local stocks as the country's stock market rebounded from its deep trough, market data showed Sunday.

The amount of money borrowed to buy stocks, the so-called margin debt, reached 30.93 trillion won (US$21.8 billion) as of Thursday, up from 27.44 trillion won on Aug. 3, according to the data compiled by the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA).

The upturn came as market heavyweights, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, sharply recovered from their turbulence caused by woes over the profitability of artificial intelligence (AI)-related investment.

Analysts believe it may continue to rise for some time, possibly reaching a fresh high, as the local stock market is not showing any immediate signs of cooling off given eased woes over AI-related investment.

"Investors are now cautiously betting that chipmakers will begin being rerated from the third quarter of the year as concerns eased to some degree," Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities, said.

sam@yna.co.kr

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