Foreigners snapped a five-month selling spree and netted up Korean shares in full force, registering a net purchase of near $500 million in July.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday, non-Korean nationals net purchased 582 billion won ($490 million) worth of Korean shares in July. It was the first time for offshore investors to turn into net stock buyers since the outbreak of coronavirus in February.

They have net-sold 3.23 trillion won in February, 13.45 trillion won in March, 5.39 trillion won in April, 4.06 trillion won in May, and 420 billion won in June.

Foreign investors made a sharp U-turn in July, led by Europeans and Asians. Investors in Europe net purchased 2.2 trillion won worth of Korean stocks in July, and Asians 400 billion won worth. Americans sold off 1.5 trillion won worth, and Middle Easterners 200 billion won.

Foreign holdings in Korean stocks reached 583.5 trillion won as of the end of July, gaining 41.9 trillion won from the previous month to take up 30.8 percent of the total market capitalization.

Americans held the largest amount of Korean shares worth 243.1 trillion won, accounting for 41.7 percent of the total foreign ownership. They were followed by Europeans with 173.6 trillion won (29.8 percent), Asians with 78.3 trillion won (13.4 percent), and investors from the Middle East with 22 trillion won (3.8 percent).

Offshore investors stayed hungry for Korean debts in July, sweeping up 6.34 trillion won worth of local bonds and redeeming 4.1 trillion won worth upon maturity.

Their purchase largely concentrated on government debt, 2.3 trillion won in sovereignty bonds and redeeming 200 billion won from monetary stabilization bonds.

Their debt holdings stretched to new record high of 150.2 trillion won as of the end of last month, adding 3.6 trillion won from a month ago.

Asians held the largest 70.1 trillion won worth of bonds, taking up 46.7 percent of the total foreign ownership, Europeans 47.1 trillion won (31.3 percent), and Americans 12 trillion won (8 percent).

By Lee Ha-yeon

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