Foreign Investors Offload Record 47 Trillion Won in Korean Stocks, Yet Ownership Hits All-Time High

Foreign investors net sold over 47 trillion won worth of domestic stocks last month, marking another record-high "Sell Korea" trend.

Despite this, the value of foreign-held shares increased due to the strength of the KOSPI, pushing the foreign ownership ratio past 35% to reach an all-time high.

According to the "May 2026 Foreign Securities Investment Trends" report released by the Financial Supervisory Service today (June 26), foreign investors net sold 47.019 trillion won in domestically listed stocks last month, continuing a net selling streak for the fifth consecutive month.

While they net sold 49.04 trillion won in the KOSPI market, they net bought 2.022 trillion won in the KOSDAQ market.

The cumulative net selling volume from the beginning of this year through last month reached 114.224 trillion won, more than 10 times the total annual net selling amount of last year (11.0768 trillion won).

Despite such massive sell-offs, the total balance of listed stocks held by foreigners as of last month stood at 2,852.3 trillion won, an increase of 730.9 trillion won from the previous month.

The foreign ownership ratio relative to total market capitalization also hit a record high of 35.3%.

This occurred because, although foreigners engaged in large-scale selling to realize profits, the stock prices of major holdings rose sharply, leading to an increase in both the total balance and the ownership ratio.

By region, net selling was highest in the Americas (33.2 trillion won), followed by Europe (7.4 trillion won), the Middle East (1.1 trillion won), and Asia (100 billion won).

By country, the United States accounted for more than half of the total selling amount, with a net sale of 28.861 trillion won.

However, the total value of U.S. holdings as of the end of last month was 1,188.047 trillion won, more than double the amount at the end of last year (546.041 trillion won).

This accounts for 41.7% of the total foreign holdings.

Meanwhile, Canada net sold 4.271 trillion won, while Norway (2.293 trillion won) and Hong Kong (2.013 trillion won) were among those that net bought.

In the bond market, net investment continued for the second consecutive month.

Last month, foreign investors net bought 11.715 trillion won and received 2.924 trillion won in maturity repayments, resulting in a total net investment of 8.791 trillion won.

By region, Europe led with a net investment of 5.7 trillion won, followed by Asia (2 trillion won), the Americas (600 billion won), and the Middle East (100 billion won).

By type, 9.9 trillion won was net invested in government bonds, while 1.1 trillion won was net withdrawn from special bonds.

As of the end of May, the balance of listed bonds held by foreigners was 333.6 trillion won (11.7% of the total listed balance), an increase of 8.4 trillion won from the previous month.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.