Foreigners' Three-Month Consecutive Net Selling Streak... Bonds Maintain Net Investment Trend Since Early Year

Sold 3.778 Trillion Won in July
Due to US Inflation Concerns
Accelerated Tapering Discussions Impact

Listed Bond Holdings at 195.3 Trillion Won
Increased by 6.4 Trillion Won...Record High

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Last month, foreign investors sold a net total of 3.778 trillion KRW worth of domestically listed stocks. The large-scale net selling by foreigners is interpreted as a result of accelerated discussions on tapering (gradual reduction of quantitative easing) due to concerns over US inflation.

According to the 'July 2021 Foreign Securities Investment Trends' released by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 13th, foreign investors net sold 4.15 trillion KRW on the KOSPI last month. On the other hand, they net bought 372 billion KRW on the KOSDAQ. This marks three consecutive months of net selling following May (-10.167 trillion KRW) and June (-499 billion KRW).

By region, investors from Europe (-3 trillion KRW), Asia (-400 billion KRW), and the Americas (-100 billion KRW) net sold. Investors from the Middle East net bought 500 billion KRW.

As of the end of last month, foreign investors' holdings of domestically listed stocks amounted to 811 trillion KRW (29.4% of market capitalization), a decrease of 31.3 trillion KRW compared to the end of the previous month.

Last month, foreign investors net purchased 9.29 trillion KRW worth of domestically listed bonds. The net investment trend has been maintained since January this year. As of the end of last month, foreign investors' holdings of domestically listed bonds reached a record high of 195.3 trillion KRW (8.9% of total bond balance), an increase of 6.4 trillion KRW compared to the end of the previous month. Foreign investors' bond holdings have set new record highs every month since January.

By region, investors from the Middle East (4 trillion KRW), Europe (2.2 trillion KRW), the Americas (1.8 trillion KRW), and Asia (1.6 trillion KRW) net invested. By type, net investments were made in government bonds (7.3 trillion KRW) and Monetary Stabilization Bonds (2.1 trillion KRW). By remaining maturity, net investments were made in bonds with 1 to less than 5 years (5.3 trillion KRW) and over 5 years (4.2 trillion KRW), while bonds with less than 1 year maturity saw net withdrawals (-200 billion KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.