Foreign investors net sell 47 trillion won in Korean stocks for 5th straight month in May

Foreign investors net sold more than 47 trillion won ($30.6 billion) worth of domestic stocks in May, extending their selling streak to five consecutive months. In the bond market, they made net purchases of 8.8 trillion won, recording a second straight month of net inflows.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's "Foreign Securities Investment Trends for May 2026," released Thursday, foreign investors net sold 47.019 trillion won worth of listed shares last month. They net sold 49.041 trillion won on the main Kospi market while net buying 2.022 trillion won on Kosdaq.

Foreign investors have recorded net selling in domestic stocks every month since January. After net selling 43.505 trillion won in March, the pace of selling temporarily slowed to 4.046 trillion won in April before widening again to 47.019 trillion won in May.

In the bond market, foreign investors bought 20.9 trillion won worth of listed bonds and sold 9.2 trillion won. With 2.9 trillion won in maturity redemptions factored in, net investment totaled 8.791 trillion won.

Combined, foreign investors recorded a total net withdrawal of 38.228 trillion won from domestic listed securities during May.

As of end-May, foreign investors held 2,852.3 trillion won in domestic listed shares, accounting for 35.3 percent of total market capitalization. Their listed bond holdings stood at 333.6 trillion won, representing 11.9 percent of total listed bond outstanding.

By region, the Americas led net stock selling at 33.2 trillion won, followed by Europe at 7.4 trillion won and the Middle East at 1.1 trillion won. By country, the United States was the largest net seller at 28.9 trillion won, with Canada also net selling 4.3 trillion won. Norway and Hong Kong bucked the trend, net buying 2.3 trillion won and 2 trillion won, respectively.

The United States held the largest share of foreign-owned domestic stocks at 1,188 trillion won, or 41.7 percent of total foreign holdings. Europe followed at 903.9 trillion won, then Asia at 397.5 trillion won and the Middle East at 55.3 trillion won.

In the bond market, net investment continued across most regions, including Europe at 5.7 trillion won, Asia at 2 trillion won and the Americas at 600 billion won. By type, foreign investors net bought 9.9 trillion won in government bonds while net withdrawing around 1.1 trillion won from special-purpose bonds.

By remaining maturity, foreign investors made net purchases of 7 trillion won in bonds with maturities of one to five years and 4.3 trillion won in bonds maturing in five years or more, while net withdrawing 2.5 trillion won from short-term bonds maturing in less than one year.