[Digital Today reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] Foreign investors withdrew large sums from both stock and bond markets last month.

The Financial Supervisory Service said on April 16 that foreigners net sold 43.505 trillion won of listed stocks last month and made a net withdrawal of 10.916 trillion won from listed bonds, pulling out a total of 54.421 trillion won.

In the stock market, they net sold 43.888 trillion won on the KOSPI and net bought 384.0 billion won on the KOSDAQ. Net stock selling extended for a third straight month.

In the bond market, they bought 25.6 trillion won and sold 20.1 trillion won, but made a net withdrawal of 10.9 trillion won after excluding 16.4 trillion won in redemptions at maturity. Bonds shifted to a net withdrawal.

As of the end of March, foreigners held 1,900 trillion won of listed securities, including 1,576.2 trillion won of listed stocks, or 30.7 percent of market capitalisation, and 323.8 trillion won of listed bonds, or 11.5 percent of the listed amount outstanding.

Compared with the previous month, stock holdings fell by 449.4 trillion won and bond holdings declined by 13.5 trillion won.

By region, the Middle East net bought 200.0 billion won, while Europe net sold 26.4 trillion won, the Americas net sold 9.8 trillion won and Asia net sold 5.6 trillion won.

By country, Qatar net bought 500.0 billion won and the Cayman Islands net bought 300.0 billion won. Britain net sold 16.3 trillion won and the United States net sold 9.5 trillion won.

By size of holdings, the United States was the largest at 656.2 trillion won, or 41.6 percent of the total, followed by Europe at 494.8 trillion won, or 31.4 percent, Asia at 219.7 trillion won, or 13.9 percent, and the Middle East at 27.7 trillion won, or 1.8 percent.

In the bond market, the Americas made a net investment of 900.0 billion won, while Asia made a net withdrawal of 7.0 trillion won and Europe made a net withdrawal of 3.4 trillion won. By size of holdings, Asia stood at 131.2 trillion won, or 40.5 percent, followed by Europe at 120.8 trillion won, or 37.3 percent.

By type, they made net withdrawals of 6.8 trillion won in government bonds and 2.2 trillion won in monetary stabilisation bonds. As of the end of March, they held 301.2 trillion won in government bonds, or 93.0 percent, and 22.5 trillion won in special bonds, or 7.0 percent.

By remaining maturity, they made a net withdrawal of 16.5 trillion won in bonds with less than 1 year left to maturity, while making net investments of 2.6 trillion won in bonds with 1 year to less than 5 years remaining and 2.9 trillion won in bonds with 5 years or more remaining.