Net outflows of foreign money from stock markets continue in April

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- Foreigners continued to pull out more money than they brought into South Korea's stock markets for the third straight month in April as rising interest rates and uncertainty over the war in Ukraine weighed on investor sentiment, central bank data showed Thursday.

Net foreign money outflows from the main bourse KOSPI and secondary KOSDAQ markets came to $4.26 billion in April, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

This represented the third straight month that foreigners had pulled out more money than they parked in local equity markets.

South Korea's stock markets have been under downward pressure amid worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will swiftly and aggressively raise its interest rate down the road to tame runaway inflation.

Rate hikes tend to encourage investors to put their money in safer assets than stocks.

Market woes have also been amplified by cloudy outlooks for the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has propelled oil and key commodity prices even higher and added to inflation woes.

kokobj@yna.co.kr
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