Foreigners Net Buy 6 Trillion KRW in Domestic Stocks in January... Largest in Over 9 Years

Holding Scale 636 Trillion... Market Cap 26.9% Share
Listed Bonds Net Redemption of 6.568 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Foreign investors have been net buyers of domestic listed stocks for four consecutive months, with last month's net purchase volume reaching the highest level in over nine years. On the other hand, bonds were net sold for two consecutive months.

According to the foreign securities investment trends announced by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 13th, foreign investors net purchased 6.146 trillion KRW worth of listed stocks last month. This was the largest monthly net purchase volume since September 2013 (8.332 trillion KRW). It was also the first time since November 2020 (6.125 trillion KRW) that the net purchase volume exceeded 6 trillion KRW. In the KOSPI market, they net purchased 6.384 trillion KRW, while in the KOSDAQ market, they net sold 238 billion KRW. As a result, foreign investors' holdings of listed stocks amounted to 636 trillion KRW, accounting for 26.9% of the market capitalization.

By region, Europe was the largest net buyer with 3.5 trillion KRW, followed by the Americas (1.5 trillion KRW) and Asia (500 billion KRW). By country, the United States (1.6 trillion KRW) and Luxembourg (1.6 trillion KRW) showed net buying dominance, whereas the Netherlands (200 billion KRW) and Canada (100 billion KRW) were net sellers. The United States held 260 trillion KRW, representing 40.9% of the total foreign holdings. This was followed by Europe (30.2%), Asia (14.1%), and the Middle East (3.4%).

In the bond market, foreign investors net sold 6.568 trillion KRW worth of domestic listed bonds last month. This marked two consecutive months of net selling following December last year (-4.031 trillion KRW). The net sale volume was 3.536 trillion KRW, and matured redemptions amounted to 3.032 trillion KRW. This was the first time in 37 months since January 2019 (1.635 trillion KRW) that foreign investors net sold domestic bonds. The holding amount stood at 221.977 trillion KRW, accounting for 9.4% of the listed bond balance.

By region, Asia (3 trillion KRW) and Europe (2.6 trillion KRW) were net sellers, while the Middle East (800 billion KRW) was a net investor. By bond type, Monetary Stabilization Bonds (3.2 trillion KRW) and government bonds (2.4 trillion KRW) were net sold. By remaining maturity, bonds with less than one year to maturity were net sold by 7.1 trillion KRW, those with 1 to less than 5 years by 800 billion KRW, while bonds with over 5 years maturity were net purchased by 1.4 trillion KRW. The holding proportions were largest for bonds under 5 years (38.8%), followed by 1 to 5 years (37.05%), and less than 1 year (24.2%).

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