Seoul: South Koreans’ transactions of foreign securities decreased in the first half of this year compared with the previous six months due largely to market volatility on Wall Street triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies, data showed Monday. Local investors traded US$377.9 billion worth of overseas shares in the January-June period, down 3.2 percent from the second half of 2024, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

According to Yonhap News Agency, this marked the first decline following two years of continuous growth. The figure includes both purchases and sales of overseas stocks conducted through the depository institution. Despite the decline in trading, the value of overseas securities on deposit with the agency had gone up 16.2 percent to $184.5 billion as of end-June. U.S. stocks made up 78.7 percent of the overseas securities.

Electric vehicle titan Tesla Motors Inc. was the top pick among South Korean investors, with transactions totaling $21.29 billion, followed by AI chipmaker Nvidia Corp. at $13.5 billion and U.S. software platform firm Palantir Technologies Inc. at $4.59 billion, the data showed. The U.S. stock market, along with global markets, experienced significant volatility this year, largely due to Trump’s unpredictable and sweeping tariff policies.

In April, the S and P 500 fell nearly 20 percent from its February peak following Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs on almost all American imports. But the index has since rebounded, reaching record highs this month as one-on-one trade negotiations are under way between the United States and its trading partners.