Foreigners buy S. Korean stocks for 9th month in July

SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors bought South Korean stocks for the ninth consecutive month following the government's ban on stock short-selling, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.

Foreigners acquired a net 2.5 trillion won (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) worth of domestic listed stocks in July, remaining net buyers since November last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Offshore investors were net buyers both in the main bourse KOSPI and the smaller KOSDAQ market.

The consecutive foreign purchase came after the financial authorities prohibited the short-selling on all listed stocks in November 2023.

Short-selling refers to the sale of stocks by borrowing them in anticipation of price fall, before repaying the borrowed shares when the price goes down. It has been seen as one of the main culprits for the stock market rout.

Foreign holdings of local listed stocks totaled 852.7 trillion won (621.9 billion dollars) at the end of July, taking up 30.1 percent of the total market capitalization.

Overseas investors purchased a net 2.95 trillion won (2.2 billion dollars) worth of domestic listed bonds in July.

Given the maturing debts worth 3.32 trillion won (2.4 billion dollars), the foreign net disinvestment in the local bond market stood at 369 billion won (269 million dollars) last month.

Foreign ownership of local bonds came in at 252.0 trillion won (183.8 billion dollars) at the end of July, accounting for 9.8 percent of the total listed bonds.