Foreign investors’ net purchases of Korean stocks in January hit 3.7 trillion won ($3.3 billion), the largest in two and a half years as they cherry-picked local stocks that had excessively lost value during routs of the final months of last year.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Monday, offshore investors in January net purchased 3.7 trillion won in Korean stocks, keeping up net-buying position for two straight months. It also was the largest amount since July 2016 when foreigners’ net buying of local shares reached 4.1 trillion won.

U.S. investors net bought 1.5 trillion won worth stocks, those from Luxembourg 600 billion won, and those from Norway 500 billion won. Investors from Singapore and Malta, however, net sold 400 billion won and 100 billion won worth stocks, respectively.

Foreign investors as of the end of January held Korea-listed stocks worth 567.2 trillion won, making up 32.3 percent of the total market capitalization. Americans held the largest amount of Korean shares worth 243.4 trillion won, accounting for 42.9 percent of the total foreign ownership. They were followed by those from the U.K. with 46.3 trillion won, Luxembourg with 36 trillion won, Singapore with 29.9 trillion won and Ireland with 21.9 trillion won. Investors from Japan held 13.6 trillion won and China 11.1 trillion won.

In the bond market, offshore investors discarded Korean debts more than owning last month with net outflow recorded at 3.7 trillion won. It was the first shift in their position in three months. They net sold 1.7 trillion won worth bonds and redeemed 2.1 trillion won worth upon maturity in their debt holdings.

By Chung Hee-young and Lee Ha-yeon

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