Kospi sees 17.4 trillion won in net selling, Kosdaq 1.6 trillion won; bonds record second straight month of net outflows
Foreign investors dumped more than 19 trillion won ($14.2 billion) worth of domestic shares in September, reversing course just one month after turning net buyers for the first time this year in August.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's report on foreign securities investment trends for September 2026, released Friday, foreign investors recorded net selling of 19.12 trillion won in listed domestic shares last month. They sold 17.45 trillion won on the Kospi and 1.66 trillion won on the Kosdaq.
In August, foreign investors had posted net purchases of 344 billion won in listed domestic shares, marking their first shift to a net buying position this year — only to swing back to net selling within a month.
By region, Europe led net selling at 10.3 trillion won. The Americas followed with 4.9 trillion won in net selling, and Asia recorded 1.7 trillion won. The Middle East was the sole net buyer, picking up 100 billion won.
By country, the United Kingdom posted the largest net selling at 6.9 trillion won, followed by the United States at 3.9 trillion won. Luxembourg and Ireland were net buyers, at 1 trillion won and 800 billion won, respectively.
Despite the heavy selling, the total value of foreign-held listed shares rose. As of end-September, foreign investors held 2,295.97 trillion won in listed domestic shares, up 15.4 trillion won from the previous month. That represented 34.8 percent of total market capitalization, unchanged from the prior month. The overall market capitalization of the domestic stock market expanded by 40.49 trillion won from the previous month to 6,601.36 trillion won, compared with 6,560.88 trillion won in August.
Foreign capital also continued to exit the bond market for a second consecutive month. In September, foreign investors made net purchases of 127 billion won in listed bonds but received 7.7 trillion won in principal repayments at maturity, resulting in net outflows of 7.57 trillion won — an increase of 2.83 trillion won from the previous month's 4.74 trillion won.
By region, Europe recorded the largest net outflows at 6.7 trillion won. The Middle East and the United States also withdrew funds, at 1.2 trillion won and 800 billion won, respectively. Asia, by contrast, made net investments of 2.7 trillion won.
By bond type, net outflows totaled 4.8 trillion won in government bonds and 2.7 trillion won in special-purpose bonds. As of end-September, foreign holdings of government bonds stood at 310.4 trillion won, accounting for 96.1 percent of total foreign bond holdings. Special-purpose bond holdings came to 12.4 trillion won, or 3.8 percent.
Total foreign holdings of listed bonds fell to 322.9 trillion won from 330.27 trillion won the previous month, a decline of 7.37 trillion won. The foreign share of total listed bond outstanding dropped 0.2 percentage points from the prior month to 11.2 percent.
moon@heraldcorp.com
