SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Foreigners bought South Korean stocks for the third straight month in July due to efforts of the new government to boost the local stock market, financial watchdog data showed Thursday.
Offshore investors purchased a net 3.41 trillion won (2.5 billion U.S. dollars) worth of domestic listed stocks in July, remaining net buyers since May, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Foreign investors remained net buyers in the main bourse KOSPI, but they were net sellers in the smaller KOSDAQ market.
The foreign stock purchase came as the government of President Lee Jae-myung, who took office on June 4, revised laws and regulations to bolster the domestic stock market.
Foreign holdings of local listed stocks totaled 921.6 trillion won (664.2 billion dollars) at the end of July, taking up 27.7 percent of the total market capitalization.
The foreign ownership of domestic listed bonds amounted to 307.7 trillion won at the end of July, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total listed bonds. (1 won equals 0.00072 U.S. dollars) ■
