Foreigners turn net sellers in one month in August

Foreign investors net sold nearly 1.2 trillion won ($898.2 million) worth of shares in South Korea in August, shifting to a selling spree in one month.

According to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, foreigners net sold 1.18 trillion won in local shares in August. They dumped 923 billion won worth of Kospi stocks and 256 billion won worth of Kosdaq stocks.

By country, investors from the U.S. net purchased 900 billion won and those from Singapore 500 billion won but those from the United Kingdom net sold 1.3 trillion won and Switzerland 400 billion won.

Offshore investors held 679.1 trillion won in Korean shares as of the end of August, down 22.7 trillion won from the previous month. They accounted for 26.1 percent of the entire market capitalization.

In the bond market, foreign investors net redeemed 383 billion won. Over a month, they net purchased 8.98 trillion won in bonds and redeemed 9.36 trillion won upon maturity.

They net purchased 2.5 trillion won in government bonds and redeemed 3.6 trillion won in monetary stabilization bonds.

Foreigners’ balance of listed bonds fell by 1 trillion won to 242.6 trillion won at the end of August, or 9.7 percent of the entire holdings in listed bonds.