A Result of Profit-taking
Foreign investors took out $890 million in stock funds from the Seoul stock market last month, a Bank of Korea report showed on Sept. 11. Stock market watchers attributed the net outflow to profit-taking.
The BOK said fresh foreign funds worth U$670 million flowed into Korea for investment in Korean bonds in August. The figure is down from US$2.92 billion in June and US$3.01 billion in July. The reduction in the inflow was attributed to the weakening of factors conducive to arbitrage.
Foreigners’ total securities investment funds, which combine both stock and bond investment funds, posted a net outflow of US$220 million in August. The net outflow came one month after a net inflow of US$4.39 billion in July.
The daily average volume of foreign currency transactions among Korean banks reached US$24.01 billion in August, down US$2.11 billion from US$26.32 billion in the previous month. The fall was attributed to a drop of US$10.3 billion in won-dollar spot exchanges and a reduction of US$1.36 billion in foreign exchange swaps.
The won-dollar exchange rate fell by 3.5 won to 1,187.8 won at the end of August from 1,191.3 won at the end of July. The rate fluctuated by 2.2 won per day on average compared to the previous day, down from 2.9 won in July.