Foreigner sell-offs of Korean stocks hit new record high in June

Foreign investors offloaded a record amount of South Korean stocks in June amid profit-taking, data showed Friday.

Offshore investors offloaded a net 49.34 trillion won ($33.8 billion) worth of local stocks last month, extending their selling binge to a sixth month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Following their net selling in June, offshore investors owned 2,908.6 trillion won worth of local stocks, or 36.4 percent of total market capitalization.

By country, investors from the United Kingdom were the top sellers in May, offloading a net 32.22 trillion won worth of shares, followed by those from the United States with a net sell-off of 23.2 trillion won, the latest findings showed.

In the local bond market, foreign investors bought a net 13.9 trillion won worth of local debt last month.

Their holdings of Korean bonds stood at 334.8 trillion won as of end-June, accounting for 11.8 percent of listed bonds here, the FSS data showed. ...