Foreigners' holdings of S. Korean bonds inch up in Nov.

SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Yonhap) -- Holdings of South Korean bonds by foreign investors slightly rose last month, data showed Friday.

Offshore investors owned local bonds worth 112.3 trillion won (US$100.4 billion) in November, up 500 billion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA).

They were on a net buying mode last month, purchasing 1.7 trillion won worth of local bonds, though the total volume of their transactions declined 4.3 trillion won on-month to 5.12 trillion won due to a fall in total bond issuance and expectations of a hike in the benchmark interest rate.

Last Friday, South Korea's central bank raised the country's policy rate by a quarter percentage point to 1.75 percent, as widely expected, for the first time since November last year.

Total bond issuance dropped in November to 47.6 trillion won, down 14.6 trillion won on-month, according to the KOFIA data.

graceoh@yna.co.kr
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