Foreign holdings of S.Korean stocks top 370 bln USD in April
2011-05-04 17:51:21
Foreign investments in South Korean stocks topped 400 trillion won (372 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time ever in April due to massive buying boosted by positive corporate earnings, the financial regulator said Wednesday.
As of the end of April, foreign holdings of local listed stocks amounted to 412.51 trillion won, or 30.8 percent of the total market capitalization, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a monthly report.
Foreign holdings surpassed the 400 trillion won mark for the first time in April after it topped the 300 trillion won level in March 2007. The holdings once declined to 159.7 trillion in February 2009 during the global financial crisis.
Offshore investors made net purchases of 4.42 trillion in local stocks in April, a turnaround from cumulative net sales of 4.49 trillion won from February to March this year, according to the FSS.
The April increase was attributable to brisk buying of foreigners amid eased external risks including earthquakes in Japan and the European sovereign debt problems along with steep gains in the key stock index spurred by strong corporate earnings.
As of the end of last month, foreign holdings in listed bonds reached 76.18 trillion won, or 6.6 percent of the total, according to the FSS. Foreigners bought a net 1.13 trillion won worth of local bonds in April, up from 996 billion won the previous month.
By country, China and Germany made net investments in local bonds every month in 2011, the FSS said. China's cumulative net buying reached 1.39 trillion won for the first four months of this year, followed by Germany with 972.4 billion won and the United States with 920.3 billion won.