Foreign appetite for Korean stocks wanes with $5.5 bn in September sales

Foreign investors' appetite for South Korean stocks turned sour with sales of 7.36 trillion won ($5.5 billion) worth of shares on the Korean bourse in September – the second straight month of foreign net selling.

According to Financial Supervisory Service data on Friday, foreigners sold 7.9 trillion won in shares on the main Kospi market, while buying a net 545 billion won in shares on the junior Kosdaq market, resulting in 7.36 trillion won worth of shares in net selling.

By country, the US topped the net seller list with the sale of 2.8 trillion won worth of stocks, followed by Luxembourg, which net sold 1.6 trillion won in shares.

By contrast, France purchased 800 billion won worth of shares, while Norway bought 400 billion won in shares.

As of the end of September, foreigners collectively held 746.9 trillion won in Korean stocks, accounting for 28% of the total market capitalization.

NET BUYERS IN DEBT MARKET

In the debt market, foreigners were net buyers of 3.63 trillion won in listed bonds.

They net bought 12.09 trillion won in listed bonds in September while redeeming 8.46 trillion won in bonds as they matured.

Foreigners primarily invested in government bonds, or treasuries, worth 1.6 trillion won and monetary stabilization bonds (MSBs) worth 1.6 trillion won, government data showed.

As of the end of September, foreign investors' holdings of listed bonds amounted to 263.4 trillion won, or 10.3% of the total listed bond balance.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.