Offshore investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks for the second consecutive month in January while they turned net buyers of local bonds as the global economy was affected by volatile oil prices and other uncertainties, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.
Foreigners sold a net 949 billion won ($869 million) worth of local stocks last month, compared with a 1.9 trillion won net selling the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Their stock ownership came to 434.2 trillion won as of the end of January, accounting for 31.2 percent of the total market capitalization, unchanged from a month earlier.
Britons led the selling, dumping a net 1.4 trillion won worth of Korean shares, followed by Norwegians with a net 241 billion won and those from Hong Kong with 219 billion won.
Investors from Saudi Arabia purchased a net 500 billion won to narrow the loss, while China and Singapore loaded 307 billion won and 238 billion won, respectively.
In the local bond market, foreigners bought a net 55 billion won in January, a turnaround from a 117 billion won net selling the previous month, the FSS said.
Chinese investors scooped up a net 711.1 billion won worth of Korean bonds, with Norwegians and French buying 250 billion won each.
The total value of their bond holdings stood at 100.4 trillion won as of end-January, staying over the 100 trillion won level for three months in a row, the FSS said. (Yonhap)
