Foreign investors net purchased South Korean stocks and bonds last month, riding the boom in local securities markets on expectations for solid economic growth.

According to data released by Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday, offshore investors in January net purchased 3.2 trillion won ($2.99 billion) in listed stocks and 2.3 trillion won in listed bonds.

Asian investors net bought 1.7 trillion won worth of Korean stocks including 1.4 trillion won from Singapore. Net buying by those from European countries reached 1.2 trillion won, and those from the U.S. 1 trillion won. Investors from the Middle East, however, net sold 200 billion won worth of Korean stocks.

Foreign investors as of the end of January held Korean listed stocks worth 658.8 trillion won, making up 32.2 percent of the total market capitalization. Americans held the largest amount of Korean shares worth 273.8 trillion won, accounting for 41.6 percent of the total foreign ownership. They were followed by Europeans with 184.2 trillion won, Asians with 80.8 trillion won, and Middle easterners with 27.3 trillion won.

On top of that, foreigners net bought 4.615 trillion won worth of local bonds in January. But considering that they have repayed matured bonds worth 2.3 trillion won, their net investment in local debts amounted to 2.322 trillion won - 1.3 trillion won in monetary stabilization bonds and 1 trillion won in national debt. Foreigners held 79.3 trillion won worth of national debts and 20.9 trillion won worth of monetary stabilization bonds.

By Jin Young-tae and Lee Ha-yeon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]