Foreign investors were net sellers of 43 trillion won in Korean stocks last month, marking a third straight month of 'Sell Korea'

[The Financial News] Foreign investors were net sellers of more than 43 trillion won in Korean stocks last month, extending their selling streak for a third consecutive month. They also turned to net withdrawals in the bond market.
On the 16th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) released its report on "Foreign Securities Investment Trends in March 2026," which showed that foreign investors posted a net sale of 43.505 trillion won in listed stocks last month.
They sold 43.888 trillion won in the Stock Market Division, while recording a net purchase of 384 billion won in the KOSDAQ market.
As of the end of last month, foreign investors held 1,576.2 trillion won in domestically listed stocks, down 449.4 trillion won from a month earlier.
By region, Europe recorded the largest net selling at 26.4 trillion won, followed by the Americas at 9.8 trillion won and Asia at 5.6 trillion won.
By country, foreign investors were major net buyers from Qatar, at 500 billion won, and the Cayman Islands, at 300 billion won. In contrast, investors from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and the United States of America (U.S.) were net sellers, at 16.3 trillion won and 9.5 trillion won, respectively.
In the bond market, foreign investors shifted back to net withdrawals after just one month.
Last month, foreign investors made net purchases of 5.442 trillion won in listed bonds, but they also received 16.359 trillion won in maturing redemptions, resulting in net withdrawals of 10.916 trillion won overall.
Except for the Americas, which saw net inflows of 900 billion won, regions such as Asia and Europe showed net withdrawals of 7 trillion won and 3.4 trillion won, respectively.
By instrument type, there were net withdrawals from government bond holdings totaling 6.8 trillion won and from Monetary Stabilization Bonds (MSBs) totaling 2.2 trillion won.
As of the end of last month, foreign investors held 323.8 trillion won in listed bonds, a decrease of 13.5 trillion won from the previous month.



nodelay@fnnews.com Park Ji-yeon Reporter