À̹ÌÁö È®´ë South Korean investors¡¯ purchase of foreign securities reached a record high of $109.7 billion last year as they have actively sought for alternative to Korean stocks that were heavily battered last year due to concern over the country¡¯s economy and company earnings.
Korean investors¡¯ purchase of foreign securities in 2018 jumped 13.7 percent to $109.7 billion from $96.5 billion in 2017, according to data released by the Korea Securities Depository on Friday.
Local investors bought $32.57 billion worth foreign stocks in 2018, surging 43.4 percent from the previous year. Their purchase of offshore bonds also rose 4.6 percent to $77.15 billion over the same period.
By region, the largest purchase was made in the European market at $66.06 billion, followed by the U.S. at $33.19 billion, Hong Kong at $5.24 billion, Japan $1.71 billion and China $1.53 billion.
The favorite U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon whose stocks attracted $2.35 billion last year from Koreans, compared with $610 million in 2017. China¡¯s tech giant Alibaba came in second with $1.16 billion, followed by Tencent with $930 million, Nvidia $810 million, Alphabet A $720 million and Netflix $560 million.
The value of foreign securities held by Korean investors amounted to $36.28 billion as of the end of last year, down 3.1 percent from the previous year. Local investors¡¯ holding in overseas stocks rose 2.1 percent to $9.84 billion, while those in foreign bonds fell 4.9 percent to $26.44 billion.
Local investors developed strong appetite for the Vietnamese market, with their purchase in Vietnamese securities soaring 185.2 percent on year to $770 million and bonds 90.5 percent to $400 million.
Korean investors¡¯ flight to overseas securities coincided with excessive losses in local securities mainly driven by growing concern over a slowdown in the country¡¯s economic growth and a retreat in corporate earnings. Korea¡¯s main Kospi index closed year 2018 with a 17.3 percent slide to 2041.04 from late 2017. The junior Kosdaq also declined 15.4 percent to 675.65 from a year earlier.
By Choi Mira
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]