Seoul: Foreign investors sold South Korean stocks for the ninth consecutive month in April amid market routs caused by the U.S. tariff policies, data showed Friday. Offshore investors offloaded a net 13.59 trillion won (US$9.71 billion) worth of local stocks last month, following a net sell-off of 1.64 trillion won in March.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) highlighted that after the recent sell-off, foreign ownership of local stocks amounted to 707.1 trillion won, representing 26.5 percent of the total market capitalization. The sell-off was primarily led by investors from Britain, who were the top net sellers, offloading 8.9 trillion won worth of shares. They were followed by investors from the United States, who net sold 1.5 trillion won worth of stocks.
In contrast, foreign investors showed interest in local bonds, purchasing a net 11.26 trillion won worth in April. Their holdings of local bonds reached 289.6 trillion won by the end of April, making up 10.9 percent of the listed bonds in the South Korean market.