By Park Hyong-ki
Staff Reporter
Foreign investors are relentlessly dumping Seoul shares, particularly blue chips, on deepening economic woes.
According to the Korea Exchange, foreign shareholdings in top 10 conglomerates plunged to 103.4 trillion won at the end of last month, down 27 percent or 39 trillion won from December last year.
Of chaebol shares, foreigners only increased their investment in logistics giant Hanjin shares.
Foreign shareholdings of Hanjin account for 19.34 percent as of August, up 0.06 percentage points from the end of last year.
Foreigners kept their net-selling on the rest of conglomerate stocks, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai Heavy Industries groups.
Foreign shareholdings of GS, an energy and retail giant, account for 28.24 percent, down 6.25 percentage points, the highest decrease among the top 10 invested in by foreigners.
Samsung, the No. 1 conglomerate, saw its foreign shareholdings drop 2.16 percentage points to 38.64 percent, but remain as the biggest foreign ownership.
Of affiliates, foreigners rushed to unload shares in Hanarotelecom as the unit of SK Group was caught up in a scandal involving the leaking of personal information of its customers.
Foreigners have a combined 3.09 percent stake in Hanarotelecom as of last week, down 45.35 percentage points from the end of 2007.
Its stock price shed an average of 27 percent since the beginning of this year, the exchange noted.
Korea Express acquired by Kumho Asiana saw its foreign investors dump company shares en masse as the group faced a liquidity crisis stemming from the increasing burden of a put back option.
Foreigners own an 11.54 percent stake in the delivery firm, down from a 28.21 percent share.
Meanwhile, LG Micron, a tech component firm, saw its foreign shareholdings increase to 13.47 percent from 4.66 percent, the highest rise among chaebol subsidiaries.
SK followed the LG unit with foreign investors increasing their stakes in the energy holding company by 3.53 percentage points to 28.07 percent.
Overall, foreign equity investments account for 31 percent of market capitalization in the top 10 family-run businesses, down from 33 percent last year.