Korean investors holdings of foreign securities hit new high

Korean investors' holdings of foreign securities reached a new all-time high in the first quarter of the year on an overseas investment boom, data showed Thursday.

Local investors held overseas stocks and bonds worth a record $101.68 billion as of end-March, up 1.08 percent from three months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

The value of U.S. stocks and bonds held by Korean investors was the largest at $70.38 billion, accounting for some 69 percent of their total overseas securities holdings.

Excluding bonds, local investors' holdings of U.S. stocks came to $69.35 billion, or more than 87 percent of their total overseas equity holdings.

U.S. electric vehicle titan Tesla Motors was Korean investors' top pick with their holdings reaching $16.86 billion, followed by smartphone behemoth Apple with $5.48 billion, U.S. chipmaker Nvidia with $3.36 billion, U.S. tech holding company Alphabet with $2.52 billion and tech giant Microsoft with $2.49 billion.

Meanwhile, the value of overseas securities settled through the KSD stood at $110.69 billion in the January-March period, down 14.5 percent from three months earlier due to higher stock market instability.

Yonhap