(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of foreign securities held by major South Korean institutions fell for the first time in more than three years in the second quarter due to a drop in holdings of foreign currency-denominated bonds, central bank data showed Thursday.
As of the end of June, the value of foreign securities held by South Korea’s institutional investors came to US$251.85 billion, down 0.6 percent, or $1.41 billion, from $253.26 billion tallied in the first quarter, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It is the first time that the quarterly amount lost ground since the third quarter of 2015, when it contracted $600 million on-quarter.
From a year earlier, South Korean institutions’ outstanding balance of foreign securities rose 17.4 percent from $214.47 billion.
Foreign securities here include overseas stocks and bonds as well as Korean papers — foreign currency-denominated securities issued by local government banks and companies in overseas markets.
The amount of foreign stocks held by South Korean institutions totaled $79.64 billion as of the end of June, down $30 million from three months earlier, while their foreign bond holdings rose $660 million to $131.2 billion over the cited period.
Investment in Korean papers by local institutions tumbled $2.04 billion to $41.01 billion over the cited period.
By investor, foreign securities held by local asset management firms came to $138.187 billion in the second quarter, up $2.02 billion from the previous quarter, with those held by insurers and banks declining $1.36 billion and $1.38 billion to $77.8 billion and $22.4 billion, respectively.
(Yonhap)
