Foreigners offload South Korean stocks for second month in Oct

[SEOUL] Foreign investors dumped South Korean stocks for a second straight month in October, data from the country's financial regulator showed on Monday, as profit-taking was prompted by a quickly-weakening local currency.

Offshore investors sold a net 2.1 trillion won (US$1.94 billion) worth of South Korean stocks in October, according to the Financial Supervisory Service, roughly quadrupling their sale of a net 0.5 trillion won in the previous month.

Investors in Bermuda sold off the biggest amount, offloading a net 0.7 trillion won last month, with the United Kingdom following with net sales worth 0.6 trillion won.

The won fell 1.2 per cent against the greenback in October alone, following a near 4 per cent drop in value in September due to a number of reasons, including the US Federal Reserve's decision to end its bond buying stimulus programme last month.

Investors have also been skittish over third quarter earnings of South Korean companies, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co Ltd operating profit falling 60.1 per cent over a year earlier in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, foreigners boosted their holdings of South Korean bonds for a second straight month in October by 1.3 trillion won and by the most since April this year, the same data from the FSS showed.

Investors in France put the most money into won-denominated bonds last month, increasing their holdings by 0.4 trillion won. Singapore and China followed, adding 0.2 trillion won and 0.1 trillion won to their respective portfolios.

REUTERS