Foreigners remained net buyers of South Korean stocks in July while posting a net outflow from the bond market for the first time in five months, the financial regulator said Monday.
Offshore investors bought a net 2.05 trillion won (US$1.69 billion) of local shares last month, marking the second consecutive month of net buying, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
Net purchases by investors from the United States and the Cayman Islands came to 1.246 trillion won and 1.242 trillion won, respectively.
In contrast, British investors sold a net 932 billion won and the comparable amount was 470 billion won for those from the United Arab Emirates.
Japanese investors sold a net 55 billion won in July, the largest net selling since October.
As of end-July, foreign investors held 543.27 trillion won worth of listed South Korean stocks, accounting for 33.5 percent of the total market capitalization.
American investors owned the largest amount of 233.61 trillion won, or 43 percent of total foreign ownership. British investors came next with 42.25 trillion won, followed by those from Luxembourg with 34.51 trillion won.
Meanwhile, foreign investors sold a net 400 billion won worth of listed South Korean bonds in July, the first net selling since February.
Foreigners held 124.2 trillion won worth of South Korean bonds, taking up 6.9 percent of the value of all listed bonds. (Yonhap)