Foreign ownership of S. Korean stocks slips this year

Foreign investors saw their ownership ratio of South Korean stocks inch down this year from the end of last year due mainly to a drop in their holdings of large caps, data showed Monday.

Foreigners held 466.2 trillion won ($431 billion) worth of shares traded on the main KOSPI market and the tech-laden KOSDAQ market as of Thursday, or 30.89 percent of the total market capitalization, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange.

The percentage was down 0.7 percentage point from end-2014, though the value of their holdings represents an increase of 44 trillion won over the cited period.

The drop in offshore traders' ownership ratio was attributed to a fall in their holdings of the top 100 large-cap stocks.

Their presence in small- and mid-sized caps on the main bourse, as well as start-ups and medium enterprises on the secondary KOSDAQ, increased, helping them outperform market heavyweights this year, the data showed.

Half of the tech shares were owned by foreigners with heavy buying in blue chip shares, such as top market cap Samsung Electronics and No. 3 SK hynix.

Foreigners jacked up their terrain in chemicals stocks, adding 3.7 percentage points to 30.1 percent over the period. The corresponding figure for machinery shares, in contrast, shed 6.3 percentage points to 31.2 percent, the KRX said.

Foreigners remained net buyers of Korean equities this year, pushing up the main and secondary bourses to hit multi-year highs last week.

The benchmark KOSPI on Tuesday broke through 2,100 points for the first time since August 2011. The KOSDAQ index on Friday exceeded the 700-point mark for the first time since January 2008. (Yonhap)