Foreigners switched to selling in the Korean stock and bond markets in August. Foreigners sold more than 1 trillion won worth of Korean stocks in August alone, pushing down their share of listed Korean stocks to the lowest point this year.
According to a report about August 2023 foreigner Korean stock investment released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Sept. 8, foreigners net sold a 1.17 trillion won worth of listed Korean stocks in August, turning into net sellers for the first time in a month. They net sold 923 billion won (US$692 million) worth of stocks on the securities market and 256 billion won on the KOSDAQ market. American investors (900 billion won) and Singaporean investors (500 billion won) were net buyers, while U.K. investors (1.3 trillion won) and Swiss investors (400 billion won) were net sellers.
In terms of holdings, U.S. investors accounted for 278 trillion, or 40.9 percent, of the total. They were followed by European investors with 210.9 trillion won (31.1 percent), Asian investors with 91.3 trillion won (13.4 percent), and Middle Eastern investors with 20.8 trillion won (3.1 percent).
As of July, foreign investors held 679.1 trillion won worth of listed Korean stocks, down 22.7 trillion won from June. The share of their holdings fell to 26.1 percent, the lowest percentage this year.
Meanwhile, foreigners recorded a net return of 383 billion won worth of listed Korean bonds. They switched to a net return due to net purchases of 8.975 trillion won worth of listed Korean bonds and the redemption of 9.358 trillion won in the first net repurchase in six months.
By region, investors from Asia (2.3 trillion won) and the Americas (400 billion won) made net investment, while those from the Middle East (1.3 trillion won) and Europe (700 billion won) made a net recovery. In terms of holdings, Asian investors accounted for 46.8 percent of all foreigners with 113.5 trillion won, while European investors 71.8 trillion won with 29.6 percent.
In terms of bond types, a net investment (2.5 trillion won) was made in government bonds and a net recovery of 3.6 trillion won made from monetary stabilization bonds. As of the end of August, foreigners held 216.6 trillion won (89.3 percent) in government bonds and 28.1 trillion won (10.4 percent) in specialty bonds.