Foreigners' Five-Month Consecutive Net Selling Streak

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Foreign investors net sold 1.614 trillion KRW worth of domestic listed stocks last month. This marks five consecutive months of net selling since the beginning of the year.

On the 13th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that foreigners net sold 1.286 trillion KRW in the KOSPI market and 328 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market in May. The United States recorded the largest net selling at 1.1 trillion KRW, followed by Ireland at 500 billion KRW. Switzerland (800 billion KRW) and Norway (200 billion KRW) were net buyers.

As of the end of last month, foreigners held listed stocks worth 695.9 trillion KRW, accounting for 26.8% of the market capitalization.

In May, foreigners net purchased 6.455 trillion KRW worth of listed bonds and redeemed 585 billion KRW at maturity, resulting in a total net investment of 1.37 trillion KRW. As of the end of May, foreigners’ bond holdings amounted to 225.8 trillion KRW, maintaining a net investment trend since January last year and setting new monthly records. By region, Asia saw net investments of 1.8 trillion KRW, and the Americas 500 billion KRW. Europe and the Middle East each had net withdrawals of 1.2 trillion KRW and 500 billion KRW, respectively. By type, government bonds were net purchased by 1.4 trillion KRW, while Monetary Stabilization Bonds (Tonganchae) were net withdrawn by 300 billion KRW.

As of the end of May, foreigners held government bonds worth 179.4 trillion KRW (79.5%) and special bonds worth 45.4 trillion KRW (20.1%). While net investments in bonds with remaining maturities over five years amounted to 1.6 trillion KRW, bonds with maturities under one year saw net withdrawals of 2.9 trillion KRW. Compared to April this year, stock holdings decreased by 400 billion KRW, while bond holdings increased by 2.6 trillion KRW.

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