Foreigners Net Bought 1.169 Trillion KRW of Listed Stocks Last Month... 5 Consecutive Months of 'Buying'

Foreign investors purchased nearly 1.17 trillion won worth of listed stocks last month, marking five consecutive months of net buying.

According to the "February 2023 Foreign Securities Investment Trends" announced by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 9th, foreign investors net bought 1.169 trillion won worth of listed stocks last month, holding a total of 635.1 trillion won. This accounts for about 26.7% of the total market capitalization, with net purchases of 535 billion won in the KOSPI market and 634 billion won in the KOSDAQ market. However, the holding amount decreased by 90 billion won compared to the previous month.

By region, Europe net bought 2.4 trillion won, and the Americas net bought 100 billion won. In contrast, Asia net sold 1.5 trillion won, and the Middle East net sold 200 billion won. By country, the United Kingdom (1 trillion won) and Luxembourg (800 billion won) were the top net buyers, while Singapore and Saudi Arabia net sold 1.5 trillion won and 400 billion won, respectively.

The total holding size was led by the United States with 258.8 trillion won, accounting for 40.8% of all foreign holdings. Europe followed with 194.6 trillion won (30.6%), Asia with 87.7 trillion won (13.8%), and the Middle East with 21.4 trillion won (3.4%).

In the bond market last month, foreign investors net purchased 2.824 trillion won worth of listed bonds and received 3.602 trillion won in matured repayments, resulting in a net recovery of 778 billion won.

By region, Asia (2.3 trillion won) and others net recovered, while Europe (1.6 trillion won) and the Americas (400 billion won) net invested. The holding size was recorded as Asia 101.7 trillion won (45.9%) and Europe 67.4 trillion won (30.4%).

By type, government bonds (2.8 trillion won) were net invested, while monetary stabilization bonds (2 trillion won) were net recovered. As of the end of last month, holdings included 193.6 trillion won (87.5%) in government bonds and 26.5 trillion won (12.0%) in special bonds. By remaining maturity, bonds with less than one year remaining (3.3 trillion won) and those with 1 to less than 5 years (500 billion won) were net recovered, while bonds with over 5 years remaining (3 trillion won) were net invested. As of the end of last month, bonds with less than one year remaining accounted for 51.1 trillion won (23.1%), 1 to less than 5 years for 85.1 trillion won (38.4%), and over 5 years for 85.3 trillion won (38.5%).