Offshore investors maintained net sale position in the Korean stock market while picked up bonds amid fall in prices throughout the first quarter.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Monday, foreigners net sold 3.5 trillion won ($3.1 billion) worth of Korean shares in March – 3.1 trillion won on the main Kospi bourse and 329 billion won on the secondary Kosdaq. They have been net sellers since December last year.

European investors purchased a net 1.1 trillion won of stocks and those from the Middle East 700 billion won. Asian and American investors net sold 3.7 trillion won and 1 trillion won worth of stocks, respectively, last month.

Foreign holdings in Korean listed stocks totaled 805 trillion won as of end of March, up 7.8 trillion won from a month ago, accounting for 31.1 percent of the total market capitalization.

Foreign investors kept up buying in Korean debts for the third straight month in March. Their net investment reached 9.1 trillion won last month. They bought 14.7 trillion won and redeemed 5.5 trillion won worth of bonds upon maturity.

Foreign ownership in Korean bonds reached 170.9 trillion won in March, up 9.4 trillion won from a month earlier and taking up 8.1 percent of total debt market.

Investors from Europe invested 3.6 trillion won in the local bonds, Asia 2.5 trillion won, the Middle East 1 trillion won, and the U.S. 800 billion won. Foreign ownership by Asians totaled 81.1 trillion won, Europeans 51.7 trillion won, and Americans 14.2 trillion won.

Their investment in government bonds totaled 5.2 trillion won and forex stabilization bonds 3.3 trillion won.

By maturity, offshore investors purchased a net 10.4 trillion won worth of bonds dated from one year to less than five years and 1.8 trillion won in bonds dated five years or longer but collected 3.1 trillion won in debt dated less than one year.

By Lee Eun-joo

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