Due to Sluggish Korean Stock Market
South Korean investors’ overseas stock trading value hit an all-time quarterly high in the third quarter of this year along with their overseas securities trading value. This is because the South Korean stock market is moving sideways and South Korean companies’ business outlook is not bright.
The Korea Securities Depository announced on Oct. 24 that the value totaled US$12.46 billion in the third quarter, up 71.3 percent from a year ago and up 40 percent from the previous quarter. Specifically, their U.S. stock trading value was US$9.8 billion, followed by Hong Kong (US$1.16 billion), Chinese (US$470 million) and Japanese (US$420 million). In addition, the total value of overseas stocks owned by South Korean investors was US$12.72 billion, up 3.3 percent from the previous quarter.
In the third quarter of this year, those investors’ top 10 picks included six ETFs listed in the United States. At present, securities companies are lowering the entry barrier of overseas stock trading by discounting their trading fees and applying preferential exchange rates.
In that period, the overseas securities trading value jumped 74.3 percent year on year to US$47.57 billion. The value reached a new quarterly record with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3.3 percent. Still, the foreign currency bond trading fell 5.7 percent quarter on quarter to US$35.11 billion.
Trading in the eurozone accounted for 58.7 percent of the securities trading, followed by those in the United States, Hong Kong, China and Japan. Likewise, trading in the eurozone represented 78.6 percent of the bond trading.