Stock market's daily turnover hits 22-month high

By a2016032

Published : May 15, 2017 - 10:27 Updated : May 15, 2017 - 10:27

The daily turnover of South Korea's main stock market has reached a 22-month high in May on the back of strong foreign buying, data showed Monday.

The daily value of shares traded on the main stock market has averaged 6.67 trillion won ($5.92 billion) through Friday this month, up 45 percent from the previous month and 32.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the bourse operator Korea Exchange.

(Yonhap)

In particular, the turnover reached a monthly peak of 9.38 trillion won on May 10, a day after the country's snap presidential election, which liberal candidate Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party won.

It marked the first time since July 2015 that the average daily turnover of the main stock market has surpassed the 6 trillion-won mark.

The jump in the daily turnover was attributed to foreign investors' brisk buying of local stocks. Offshore investors' cumulative net buying came to 1.25 trillion won in the first 11 trading days of this month.

In contrast, retail investors and institutions sold a net 1.05 trillion won and 113.2 billion won, respectively, during the period.

South Korea's stock market has been on a roll this month, bolstered by expectations for an economic rebound and improved corporate earnings. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2.286.02 on Friday, up 2 percent from a week ago, after hitting a new all-time high of 2,296.37 the previous day.

The data also showed the daily turnover of the tech-heavy Kosdaq market averaged 2.78 trillion won this month, down from 3.47 trillion won the previous month. (Yonhap)