Foreigners extend stock sell-off to 2nd month in Sept.

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- Foreign investors became net sellers of South Korean stocks in September, extending their selling spree to a second month, data showed Monday.

Offshore investors sold a net 2.54 trillion won (US$2.2 billion) of local stocks last month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Investors from Singapore posted the largest amount of net selling with 4.3 trillion won, followed by those from Switzerland with 300 billion won worth of stocks.

In contrast, investors from Luxembourg bought a net 600 billion won worth of stocks, and investors from the United States purchased a net 400 billion won.

As of end-September, local stocks held by foreign investors came to 598.4 trillion won, accounting for 30.3 percent of South Korea's market capitalization.

By country, investors from the U.S. held 249.8 trillion won worth of local stocks at the end of last month, accounting for 41.8 percent of the total held by offshore investors, followed by those from Britain with 7.6 percent and Luxembourg with 6.6 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors sold a net 31 billion won worth of listed South Korean bonds in September, snapping an eight-month buying spree.

Foreigners held 151 trillion won worth of South Korean bonds as of the end of September, down 23 billion won from August and taking up 7.5 percent of the value of all listed bonds, the data showed.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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