Foreigners continue net buying of S. Korean shares

Foreign investors continued their net buying of South Korean stocks in October, marking the fifth consecutive month of net purchases, government data showed Monday.

They bought a net 461 billion won ($403 million) worth of listed South Korean shares last month, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The cumulative holdings of listed stocks here came to 469.4 trillion won, 31.1 percent of total market capitalization.

Foreigner net buying totaled 11.5 trillion won in the first 10 months of this year, the largest since 2012, when 14.3 trillion won was posted for the same months.

By region, European and American investors net bought shares last month, while Asian and Middle Eastern ones were net-sellers.

In contrast, foreigners net sold 3.6 trillion won worth of listed South Koreans bonds in October, reducing their cumulative holdings to 91.6 trillion won. (Yonhap)