[Foreign Securities Investment] bought 22.9 trillion won worth of Korean stocks in H1, 'largest ever'

[Korea Financial Times, Jeong Suneun] Foreigners' net purchases of Korean stocks reached 23 trillion won in the first half of this year. This is the highest level on a half-yearly basis since relevant data began in 1998.

Stocks remained net buyers for eight consecutive months. In bonds, they turned net buyers for the first time in three months.

The Financial Supervisory Service said in its "Trends in Foreign Securities Investment in June 2024".
In June 2024, foreigners were net buyers of 2.89 trillion won in listed stocks. This was a net purchase of 1.94 trillion won in the KOSPI market and 94.9 billion won in the KOSDAQ market. In the first six months of the year, they were net buyers of 22.82 trillion won.

By region, Europe was net long $2.3 trillion and the Americas $2 trillion. On the other hand, Asia (-2.3 trillion won) was a net seller.

By country, the US (KRW 2.1 trillion) and Luxembourg (KRW 1 trillion) were net buyers. On the other hand, Singapore (-2.9 trillion won) and Canada (-100 billion won) were net sellers.

The U.S. accounted for KRW 345 trillion in stock holdings, or 40.1% of all foreigners. This is followed by Europe, including the UK, Luxembourg, and Ireland (263.8 trillion won, 30.7%), Asia, including Singapore, China, and Japan (126.1 trillion won, 14.7%), and the Middle East (16.4 trillion won, 1.9%).

At the end of June 2024, foreigners held 859.2 trillion won ($67.9 trillion) of South Korean equities, up from 85.9 trillion won in the previous month. This amounted to 30.0% of the market capitalization.

In June 2024, foreigners net purchased KRW 4.37 trillion in listed bonds and redeemed KRW 5.41 trillion in maturities, totaling KRW 1.045 trillion won.

By region, Asia (1.1 trillion won) and the Americas (200 billion won) were net investors. The Middle East (-900 billion won) was a net recovery.

Asia accounted for 120.4 trillion won, or 47.9%, of the total holdings. This was followed by Europe with 72.8 trillion won (28.9%).

By type, we made net investments in Treasury bills (KRW 100 billion), and net withdrawals from government bonds (- KRW 200 billion).
As of the end of June, government bonds accounted for 229.4 trillion won, or 91.2%. Specialty bonds accounted for KRW 22 trillion (8.7%).

Net investments were made in bonds with a residual maturity of less than 1-5 years (1.9 trillion won) and more than 5 years (1.6 trillion won). Net recoveries from bonds with maturities of less than one year (-4.5 trillion won).

At the end of June, we held 44.4% of bonds with a residual maturity of more than 5 years. 38.2% held 1-5 years and 17.4% held less than 1 year.

As of June 2024, foreigners' holdings of listed bonds increased by KRW 500 billion month-on-month to KRW 251.5 trillion, or 9.8% of the listed balance.

Jeong Suneun (bravebambi@fntimes.com)