Foreign securities investment trends, August 2026
First net purchase of the year
Net withdrawal recorded in listed bond market
Foreign investors made a net purchase of about 300 billion won ($219 million) in domestically listed shares last month, marking their first net buying of the year. In the listed bond market, however, they pulled out more than 4.7 trillion won, swinging to a net withdrawal.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's report on foreign securities investment trends for August 2026, released Friday, foreign investors recorded a net purchase of 344 billion won in domestic listed shares last month.
It was the first time foreign investors posted net buying in the domestic stock market in eight months, since December last year, when they recorded a net purchase of 1.52 trillion won.
On the Kospi market, foreign investors made a net purchase of 1.89 trillion won, while recording net selling of 1.54 trillion won on the Kosdaq market.
As a result, the total value of listed shares held by foreign investors stood at 2,280.6 trillion won at the end of last month, accounting for 34.8 percent of total market capitalization. The balance rose 25.1 trillion won from the previous month's 2,255.5 trillion won, though the ownership share fell 1.0 percentage point over the same period.
By region, investors from the Americas led with net buying of 13.41 trillion won. Europe, Asia and the Middle East recorded net selling of 10.7 trillion won, 1.2 trillion won and 400 billion won, respectively.
By country, the United States (+13.4 trillion won) and Ireland (+3.2 trillion won) were the top net buyers, while the United Kingdom (-16.9 trillion won) and the Cayman Islands (-2.7 trillion won) led net selling.
In the bond market, foreign investors swung to a net withdrawal for the first time in four months.
Foreign investors recorded net selling of 3.94 trillion won in listed bonds last month and received 801 billion won in maturity redemptions, bringing total net withdrawals to 4.74 trillion won.
As a result, foreign holdings of domestic listed bonds fell to 330.3 trillion won at the end of August, down 5.8 trillion won from the previous month. Foreign investors accounted for 11.4 percent of total listed bond balances.
By region, Asian investors made a net investment of 2.3 trillion won in bonds, while European and Americas investors recorded net withdrawals of 5.1 trillion won and 900 billion won, respectively.
By type, foreign investors recorded net withdrawals in government bonds (3.5 trillion won) and special-purpose bonds (1.25 trillion won), leaving them holding 315 trillion won in government bonds and 15.1 trillion won in special-purpose bonds.
Foreign holdings of listed bonds at the end of August stood at 330.27 trillion won, equivalent to 11.4 percent of total listed bond balances.
jiyun@heraldcorp.com
