Foreign investors remain net buyers of S. Korean shares for 8th month in June

Foreigners remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for the eighth consecutive month in June, data showed Monday. Offshore investors purchased a net 2.9 trillion won (US$2.15 billion) worth of listed stocks last month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. As of end-June, their holdings of local stocks stood at 859.2 trillion won, accounting for 30 percent of total market capitalization, up from 29.1 percent a month earlier. By nation, U.S. investors net purchased 2.1 trillion won worth of shares, while investors from Singapore offloaded a net 2.9 trillion won. U.S. investors held 345 trillion won worth of local shares as of end-June, representing 40.1 percent of the total held by foreigners, followed by European investors with 263.8 trillion won worth of shares. Meanwhile, foreigners sold a net 1.05 trillion won worth of listed bonds last month. Their cumulative bond holdings came to 251.5 trillion won as of end-June, accounting for 9.8 percent of all listed bonds here. Sou rce: Yonhap News Agency