Foreign buying spree on Korean stocks continues for 6th month

An electronic board at Hana Bank's dealing room in central Seoul shows the Kospi at 4,061.21, shedding 109.42 points, or 2.62 percent, from the previous session, shortly after the opening bell, Friday. (Yonhap)

Foreign investors invested over 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) into the South Korean stock market in October, marking six consecutive months of net buying, data showed Friday.

Offshore investors purchased a net 4.2 trillion won in listed stocks last month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Of that amount, 4.195 trillion won went into the main bourse Kospi, while 10 billion won was invested in the secondary bourse Kosdaq.

Foreign investors’ combined stock holdings stood at 1,248.9 trillion won at the end of October, up 234.3 trillion won from the previous month, representing 30.1 percent of total market capitalization.

By country, the UK was the largest net buyer, purchasing 2.4 trillion won worth of stocks, followed by Ireland at 1.3 trillion won. Investors from the US and Kuwait offloaded 1 trillion won and 600 billion won on the local market, respectively.

US investors were the largest shareholders by country, owning 40.9 percent of the shares held by foreign investors, followed by Europe with 31.7 percent, Asia with 13.9 percent, and the Middle East with 1.6 percent.