Foreign Investors Own 7% of Listed Bonds in South Korea
Foreigners bought both listed stocks and listed bonds at the same time in June. In particular, the foreign ownership of listed bonds reached a record high for two months in a row.
Foreigners’ net investment in South Korean bonds came to 5.80 trillion won (US$4.91 billion) in June, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on July 15. Foreign investors purchased 12.50 trillion won (US$10.59 billion) worth of bonds and sold 2.20 trillion won (US$1.86 billion) in the market. As a result of 4.50 trillion won (US$3.81 billion) worth of bonds matured, foreigners continued to show net investment in listed bonds for four straight months since March.
By region, Europe had the highest net investments with 4.20 trillion won (US$3.56 billion), followed by Asia with 1.70 trillion won (US$1.44 billion) and the Americas with 100 billion won (US$84.73 million).
The total amount of listed bonds owned by foreigners stood at 124.54 trillion won (US$105.52 billion) as of the end of last month, setting a record. Foreign investors account for 7 percent of the total listed bonds in South Korea.
By region, Asia had the highest holdings with 51.20 trillion won (US$43.39 billion), taking up 41.1 percent of the total foreign ownership. Europe came in second with 45 trillion won (US$38.14 billion), or 36.2 percent, and the Americas with 11.30 trillion won (US$9.58 billion), or 9 percent.
Foreigners net purchased 244 billion won (US$206.78 million) worth of stocks in South Korea over the same period. They net sold 3 trillion won (US$2.54 billion) in May but went on a net buying spree later.
By country, Singapore bought 1.66 trillion won (US$1.41 billion) worth of stocks, followed by the United States with 273 billion won (US$231.30 million), Hong Kong with 256 billion won (US$216.89 million), Australia with 89 billion won (US$75.40 million), China with 73 billion won (US$61.85 million) and the United Arab Emirates with 71 billion won (US$60.15 million).
On the other hand, the United Kingdom sold 972 billion won (US$823.52 million) worth of stocks, while Canada and Ireland net sold 560 billion won (US$474.42 million) and 285 billion won (US$241.44 million), respectively.
The amount of listed stocks owned by foreigners totaled 559.85 trillion won (US$474.25 billion) as of the end of last month, taking up 32.7 percent of the total market cap.
By country, the United States had the highest holding of market cap with 240.05 trillion won (US$203.31 billion), accounting for 42.9 percent of the total foreign ownership, followed by the United Kingdom with 44.82 trillion won (US$37.96 billion), or 8 percent, Luxembourg with 35.61 trillion won (US$30.16 billion), or 6.4 percent, and Singapore with 31.68 trillion won (US$26.83 billion), or 5.7 percent.
The amount of market cap held by Japan and China was 12.99 trillion won (US$11 billion), or 2.3 percent, and 11.37 trillion won (US$9.63 billion), or 2 percent, respectively.