Data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday showed stocks traded in the South Korean market by foreign investors during the month June amounted to 78.1 trillion won, accounting for just over 30 percent of the total stock trading volume. (Image: Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — A new report has revealed that American and British investors are the biggest traders of South Korean stocks, accounting for over 50 percent of all foreign stock buyers.
Data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday showed stocks traded in the South Korean market by foreign investors during the month June amounted to 78.1 trillion won, accounting for just over 30 percent of the total stock trading volume.
When broken down by nationality, buyers from the U.K. and the U.S dominated.
Total purchases of South Korean stocks by British buyers added up to 25.8 trillion won, accounting for 33.1 percent of all transactions made by foreign investors.
The U.S. accounted for a monthly share of 17.7 percent, followed by Luxembourg, Singapore, Ireland, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Germany and France.
While Western countries dominated the list, the trading volume for buyers from neighboring countries like Japan and China remained below 1 percent, a trend explained by the lack of global investment banks in Asian countries.
However, American buyers were found to be the biggest shareholders of South Korean stocks among foreign investors, with their 250.2 trillion won in holdings accounting for 41.9 percent of all South Korean stocks as of late June.
Of the 44,072 foreign investors registered with the FSS, the number of American buyers was 14,636, followed by 3,364 from the Cayman Islands and 2,614 from the U.K.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
