Foreign investors remain net sellers in March

Foreign investors unloaded more than 3.5 trillion won ($3.12 billion) worth of Korean stocks in March to remain net sellers for the fourth consecutive month, data showed Monday.

Offshore investors' net selling of local stocks came to 3.51 trillion won last month, up from 3.24 trillion won in net selling in February, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Foreigners have remained net sellers of Korean stocks since December.

Investors from Asia and the Americas sold a net 4.7 trillion won worth of Korean stocks, while those from Europe and the Middle East bought a net 1.83 trillion won.

As of end-March, foreign investors held 805.3 trillion won worth of local listed stocks, up 7.8 trillion won from the previous month and accounting for 31.1 percent of the stock market capitalization.

The data also showed foreigners bought a net 9.12 billion won worth of local bonds, marking the third consecutive month of net purchases.

European investors' net investment came to 3.6 trillion won, followed by investors from Asia with 2.5 trillion won and investors from the Americas with 800 billion won.

Foreign ownership of local bonds stood at 170.9 trillion won as of end-March, up 9.4 trillion won from February and taking up 8.1 percent of total listed bonds.

Yonhap