Foreign investors ditch Korea in November, ending 6-month buying spree

An electronic board at Hana Bank's dealing room shows the Kospi standing at 4,146.84 and the Korean won quoted at 1,471.7 per dollar, shortly after the opening bell on Friday. (Yonhap)

Foreign investors adopted a heavy net selling stance on the South Korean stock market in November, offloading over 13 trillion won ($9 billion) worth of shares, according to data released Friday. The net-selling ended their six-month buying streak of local stocks.

Offshore investors dumped shares worth 13.3 trillion won on the local stock market in November, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The FSS figure includes off-exchange transactions and settlement information.

While net selling shares amounting to 13.4 trillion won on the benchmark Kospi, foreigners posted a modest 100 billion won net purchase on the secondary Kosdaq.

It was the first time foreigners entered a net-selling mode on the Korean stock market since April. Between May and October, foreign investors had net purchased a total of 18.82 trillion on the Korean stock market.

By country, investors from the United Kingdom sold a net 4.55 trillion won, followed by the United States with 4.08 trillion won and Singapore with 1.7 trillion won. Meanwhile, Canada and Ireland were net buyers, purchasing 469 billion and 376 billion, respectively.

As of the end of November, foreign investors held 1,192.8 trillion worth of listed Korean stocks, down 56.1 trillion from the previous month. They accounted for 29.6 percent of the Korean stock market, inching down slightly from 30.1 percent a month earlier.

By nationality, US investors held the largest share at 489 trillion won, followed by the United Kingdom at 132.1 trillion, Singapore at 80 trillion won, Luxembourg at 63.1 trillion won and Ireland at 50.7 trillion won.