Foreigners become net buyers of Korean stocks for first time — Korea Herald
In South Korea, foreign investors in August became net buyers of local stocks for the first time since the beginning of the year, ending a seven-month streak of net sales. According to the country’s Financial Supervisory Service, they bought stocks worth a net 344 billion won, or about $248.4 million.
This was the first month of net purchases by foreigners since December. Korea Herald reports on the shift in stock market dynamics. At the same time, the volume of August purchases was relatively small following substantial sales in previous months.
Transactions on Kospi and Kosdaq
In May, foreign investors sold stocks worth a net 47 trillion won, in June — 49.3 trillion won, and in July — 31.7 trillion won. Over the first eight months of the year, their total net sales amounted to 194.9 trillion won.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
In August, purchases were concentrated on the main Kospi market: foreigners bought stocks there worth a net 1.89 trillion won. On the secondary Kosdaq market, they instead sold securities worth a net 1.55 trillion won.
Capital flows by country
The largest net buyers were investors from the United States, with 13.38 trillion won. They were followed by investors from Ireland, who bought stocks worth a net 3.21 trillion won, and Luxembourg, with 2.34 trillion won. At the same time, British investors sold securities worth a net 16.9 trillion won, while investors from the Cayman Islands sold 2.72 trillion won.
As of the end of August, foreign investors held South Korean listed stocks worth 2,280.6 trillion won, or 34.8% of the country’s total market capitalization. In September, the trend did not continue: by Thursday, foreigners had sold Kospi stocks worth a net 12.24 trillion won. In particular, they sold Samsung Electronics securities worth 3.58 trillion won and SK hynix securities worth 5.49 trillion won; these two companies accounted for nearly 80% of total net sales.
