À̹ÌÁö È®´ë As South Korean individuals looked eagerly beyond the local market for bigger returns from investment, turnover in trading overseas stocks renewed a monthly high of $18.6 billion last month.
Korean investors traded $18.6 billion worth of offshore stocks in June, according to Korea Securities Depository on Monday.
Koreans¡¯ offshore stock trade that averaged around $5.5 billion until the beginning of the year shot up to $13.8 billion in March as local market took a dive amid a surge in the cases of COVID-19.
Turnover in trading foreign stocks stood around $12.4 billion in April and May.
The appetite for foreign stocks is avid when compared to the total trade turnover of 287.6 trillion ($240 billion) at the Korea¡¯s main bourse Kospi in June.
The offshore data mostly involves retailers while the Kospi number includes all investors – institutions, foreigners and individuals.
Koreans¡¯ investment in offshore securities was made mostly in the U.S. The trade of American stocks accounted for 91.4 percent of the Koreans¡¯ total offshore stock transaction in June, up from 77.6 percent in January.
Koreans¡¯ favorite foreign stocks, based on outstanding deposit amount, were Amazon.com, Tesla, and Microsoft, with over $10 billion deposited in accounts for each stock.
Market experts forecast Korean individual investors will go more aggressive on investing in offshore stocks due to Korean government¡¯s plan of imposing tax on profits above 20 million won from sale of local stocks per year in 2023.
By Park In-hye, Ahn Gab-seong, and Cho Jeehyun
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]