Foreign investors turned to net buyers of domestic stocks in August for the first time this year, purchasing a net amount of around 300 billion won.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's "Foreign Securities Investment Trends in August 2026" released today (September 18), foreign investors posted a net purchase of 344 billion won in local listed stocks last month.

This marks the first time in eight months that foreigners recorded a net purchase in the domestic stock market since December of last year (1.524 trillion won).

In the main bourse Kospi market, they posted a net purchase of 1.888 trillion won, while recording a net sale of 1.545 trillion won in the Kosdaq market.

As of the end of August, the value of listed stocks held by foreigners stood at 2,280.6 trillion won, accounting to 34.8% of the total market capitalization.

While the balance increased by 25.1 trillion won compared to the previous month (2,255.5 trillion won), the holding proportion decreased by 1.0 percentage point (p) over the same period.

Total market capitalization increased from 6,307.473 trillion won as of July to 6,560.875 trillion won.

By region, the Americas posted a net purchase (13.4 trillion won), while Europe (10.7 trillion won), Asia (1.2 trillion won), and the Middle East (400 billion won) recorded net sales in that order.

By country, the United States (13.4 trillion won) and Ireland (3.2 trillion won) were net buyers, whereas the United Kingdom (16.9 trillion won) and the Cayman Islands (2.7 trillion won) were net sellers in that order.

The bond market also switched to a net withdrawal for the first time in four months.

Foreigners had continuously maintained net investments since net withdrawing 10.916 trillion won in March.

Last month, foreigners posted a net sale of 3.935 trillion won in listed bonds and saw 801 billion won redeemed at maturity, resulting in a total net withdrawal of 4.736 trillion won.

By region, Asia posted a net investment of 2.3 trillion won, while Europe and the Americas recorded net withdrawals of 5.1 trillion won and 900 billion won, respectively.

By type, they net withdrew from government bonds (3.5 trillion won) and monetary stabilization bonds/special bonds (1.2 trillion won), leaving foreigners holding 315 trillion won in government bonds and 15.1 trillion won in special bonds.

As of the end of August, the value of listed bonds held by foreigners was calculated at 330.267 trillion won (11.4% of the total listed balance).