Foreigners Sold 3.6 Trillion Won of Domestic Stocks Last Month... Fifth Consecutive Month of Selling

by Cha Minyoung

Published 17 Jan.2025 07:43(KST)

Updated 17 Jan.2025 07:51(KST)

Trends in Foreign Securities Investment in December

Planning_Yeouido Securities District, Park One, LG Twin Towers. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Foreign investors continued their five-month streak of net selling in the domestic stock market last month, offloading stocks worth 3.6 trillion KRW.

According to the "December 2024 Foreign Securities Investment Trends" report released by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 17th, foreigners net sold 3.649 trillion KRW worth of domestic listed stocks last month. They net sold 3.977 trillion KRW in the KOSPI market, while net buying 328 billion KRW in the KOSDAQ market.

By country, the largest net selling was from the Netherlands (-1.3 trillion KRW) and Luxembourg (-900 billion KRW). On the other hand, the United States (600 billion KRW) and the United Arab Emirates (400 billion KRW) recorded net purchases.

As of the end of last month, the total value of domestic listed stocks held by foreign investors stood at 673.7 trillion KRW, accounting for 27.0% of the total market capitalization. This is the lowest level in 13 months since November 2023 (26.9%).

In the bond market, foreign investors net recovered 2.381 trillion KRW worth of listed bonds, marking a shift to net recovery for the first time in five months since July.

This was due to net purchases of 2.123 trillion KRW in listed bonds and maturity repayments of 4.504 trillion KRW.

By region, the Middle East (-2 trillion KRW) and the Americas (-800 billion KRW) net recovered bonds, while Europe (800 billion KRW) made net investments.

By type, the largest net recovery was seen in government bonds (-3.2 trillion KRW). As of the end of last month, foreign holdings of listed bonds amounted to 268.2 trillion KRW, representing 10.4% of the outstanding listed bonds.