Foreign investors bought a net 1.04 trillion won (US$850.7 billion) worth of South Korean stocks in June in a sharp turnaround from their heavy selling the previous month, the financial watchdog said Monday.
Overseas investors' net buying contrasts sharply with their 6.1 trillion won net selling in May, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said, adding eased eurozone fears contributed to the change.
Overseas buyers held a total of 301.95 trillion won worth of local shares, or 29.5 percent of the total market capitalization as of the end of June, compared with 294.43 trillion won, or 29.7 percent, a month earlier, according to the FSS.
U.S. investors accounted for the biggest foreign purchase with 471.9 billion won last month, followed by Singaporeans with 396.9 billion won, the FSS said.
In the local bond market, however, overseas investors sold a net 774.4 billion won of debts in June, compared with a net purchase of 3.49 trillion won the previous month, the watchdog said.
As of end-June, foreigners held 67.82 trillion won worth of local bonds, or 6.3 percent of the total, the FSS said.