Last Year’s Foreign Securities Custody and Settlement Amount Hits Record High... Tesla and Apple Lead the Rankings

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Last year, driven by the surge of Seohak Gaemi, the custody and settlement amounts of foreign currency securities reached record highs. Both custody and settlement amounts were overwhelmingly dominated by the United States, with Tesla and Apple ranking as the top stocks.

According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 20th, the custody amount of foreign currency securities held by domestic investors through the depository last year was $100.59 billion, and the settlement amount was $490.71 billion, both setting all-time highs.

The settlement amount continued to increase over the past five years. By type, the settlement amount of foreign currency securities was $490.71 billion, up 51.7% from the previous year. Foreign currency stocks amounted to $398.47 billion, up 100.9% year-on-year, while bonds decreased by 26.2% to $92.24 billion during the same period.

By market, the United States accounted for the largest share at 77.8% of the total settlement amount. The top five markets, including the US, the Euro market, Hong Kong, and Japan, accounted for 99.3% of the total settlement amount. For foreign currency stocks, the US accounted for 92.9% of the total foreign currency stock settlement volume, showing a 107.7% increase compared to the previous year.

The top foreign currency stock settlement items were Tesla, Apple, and Direction Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares, with all top 10 stocks being US stocks.

Looking at custody amounts by type, foreign currency stocks were $77.91 billion, up 65.5% year-on-year, while foreign currency bonds were $22.68 billion, down 9.8% during the same period. By market, the US accounted for the largest share at 68.6% of the total custody amount, and the top five markets including the US, the Euro market, Hong Kong, and Japan accounted for 97.9% of the total custody amount.

The depository explained, “In the case of foreign currency stocks, the US accounted for 87% of the total foreign currency stock custody volume, rising 81.5% compared to the previous year.”

The top foreign currency stock custody items were all US stocks, including Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft, mostly consisting of large Nasdaq stocks and index-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs).