Foreigners extend stock sell-off to 4th straight month in May

SEOUL, June 8 (Yonhap) -- Foreign investors became net sellers of South Korean stocks in May, extending their selling spree to a fourth straight month, data showed Monday.

Foreigners sold a net 4.06 trillion won (US$3.3 billion) worth of local stocks last month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

American investors sold a net 1.8 trillion won of stocks last month, while Saudi investors net purchased 600 billion won worth of stocks, according to the FSS.

As of end-May, local stocks held by foreign investors came to 520.6 trillion won, accounting for 30.9 percent of South Korea's market capitalization.

By country, investors from the United States held 220.4 trillion won worth of local stocks at the end of last month, accounting for 42.3 percent of the total held by offshore investors, followed by those from Britain with 7.3 percent and Luxembourg with 6.4 percent.

Meanwhile, foreigners bought a net 6.29 trillion won worth of local bonds last month, extending their buying spree to a fifth straight month. Their bond holdings hit a record high of 143.1 trillion won, or 7.3 percent of the total, as of end-May, the data showed.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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