Last Month Foreign Ownership in Domestic Stocks at 27.4%... Up 1%P YoY

Foreign Investors Held 739.4 Trillion Won in December Last Year
1 Percentage Point Higher Than 26.4% in the Previous Year
Also Held 242.9 Trillion Won in Listed Bonds

As of the end of last year, the proportion of foreign ownership in domestic listed stocks stood at 27.4%, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. This is nearly 1.3 percentage points higher than the lowest point in 14 years recorded at the end of August last year (26.1%).

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 12th, as of the end of December 2023, foreigners held listed stocks worth 739.4 trillion won, accounting for 27.4% of the market capitalization (2,697.91 trillion won). This is 1 percentage point higher than the 26.4% recorded in December 2022. It also shows a 1.3 percentage point difference from the 26.1% in August, which was the lowest level last year.

Foreigners also held listed bonds worth 242.9 trillion won, accounting for 9.7% of the total listed balance. Thus, foreigners are estimated to hold a total of 982.3 trillion won in listed securities, combining stocks and bonds.

In December alone, foreigners net purchased listed stocks worth 3.146 trillion won and net redeemed listed bonds worth 888 billion won, resulting in a total net investment of 2.258 trillion won.

In the securities market (KOSPI), foreigners net purchased 2.285 trillion won worth of stocks, and in the KOSDAQ market, they net purchased 861 billion won worth. By region, Europe saw net purchases of 2.7 trillion won, with the United Kingdom leading at 2.2 trillion won, followed by Australia at 500 billion won. The United States, which accounts for 40.9% of foreign stock ownership in Korea, net sold 500 billion won worth of stocks.

During the same period in the bond market, foreigners bought bonds worth 12.1 trillion won and sold bonds worth 7.6 trillion won. Including matured bonds redeemed worth 5.4 trillion won, this resulted in a net bond redemption of approximately 900 billion won. In the bond market, Europe (300 billion won) and the Middle East (300 billion won) made net investments, while the Americas net redeemed 900 billion won. In the domestic listed bond market, Asia continues to hold a dominant position with 113.6 trillion won.

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