SEOUL, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors sold South Korean stocks for the ninth straight month due to lingering worry about economic slump, financial watchdog data showed Friday.
Foreigners offloaded a net 13.59 trillion won (9.7 billion U.S. dollars) worth of local listed stocks in April, remaining net sellers since August 2024, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Offshore investors were net sellers both in the main bourse KOSPI and the smaller KOSDAQ market.
The foreign sell-off was attributable to concerns about an economic downturn.
The seasonally-adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter from three months earlier, marking the first reduction in three quarters.
The country's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.75 percent in February, after slashing it by the same percentage point in October and November last year.
Foreign holdings of local listed stocks totaled 707.1 trillion won (506.9 billion dollars) at the end of April, taking up 26.5 percent of the total market capitalization.
Overseas investors purchased a net 15.51 trillion won (11.1 billion dollars) worth of domestic listed bonds in April.
Given the maturing debts worth 4.25 trillion won (3.0 billion dollars), the foreign net investment in the local bond market stood at 11.26 trillion won (8.1 billion dollars) last month.
The foreign ownership of domestic listed bonds amounted to 289.6 trillion won (207.6 billion dollars) at the end of April, accounting for 10.9 percent of the total listed bonds. ■
