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Foreigners sell record amount of Korean stocks in March

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 09:04

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on April 15. [YONHAP]

Foreign investors net sold a new monthly high amount of local stocks in March, data showed Thursday, as the Iran war boosted risk-off sentiment.

Offshore investors offloaded a net 43.5 trillion won ($29.5 billion) worth of local stocks last month, following a net selling of 19.6 billion won the previous month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Following their net selling in March, offshore investors owned 1,576.2 trillion won worth of local stocks, or 30.7 percent of total market capitalization.

By country, investors from Britain were the top sellers in March, net selling 16.3 trillion won worth of shares, followed by those from the United States with a net sell-off of 9.5 trillion won, according to the data.

In the local bond market, foreign investors sold a net 10.9 trillion won worth of local bonds last month, following the net purchase of 7.43 trillion won the previous month.

Their holdings of local bonds stood at 323.7 trillion won as of the end of March, accounting for 12 percent of listed bonds here, according to the data.

Yonhap