Foreign investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for a second consecutive month in December. (Image courtesy of Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) — Foreign investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for a second consecutive month in December, data showed Friday.
Offshore investors purchased a net 3.14 trillion won (US$2.38 billion) worth of local stocks last month, following their net purchase of 3.3 trillion won in November, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Investors from Britain net purchased 2.2 trillion won worth of local shares while those from the United States net sold 500 billion won.
As of end-December, local stocks held by foreigners stood at 739.4 trillion won, accounting for 27.4 percent of the country’s market capitalization.
The reading marks a 28.9 percent, or 165.6 trillion won, spike from 573.8 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the FSS.
Meanwhile, foreign investors turned net sellers of local bonds in December, purchasing 4.53 trillion won worth of public funds while selling 5.42 trillion won worth of bonds on maturity.
Their bond holdings came to 242.9 trillion won as of end-December, marking a 1.2 trillion won decline from a month earlier and accounting for 9.7 percent of all outstanding public bonds in the country.
(Yonhap)
