"Is Only Retail Left Now?" Foreign Investors Pulled Out Nearly 47 Trillion Won in June Alone

[Financial News] Foreign investors withdrew nearly 47 trillion won from the domestic securities market over the past month, data showed. The outflow, the largest on record, appears to reflect a combination of weakened investor sentiment over overheated artificial intelligence (AI) investment and rebalancing demand to lock in gains from rising stock prices.
According to Trends in International Finance and the Foreign Exchange Market released by the Bank of Korea on the 14th, foreign securities investment funds, including stocks and bonds, recorded a net outflow of $30.72 billion, or about 46.9 trillion won, in June. That was the second-largest monthly outflow on record, after $36.55 billion in March.
A net outflow means that more foreign investment money left the domestic stock and bond markets than entered them. Foreign securities funds have posted net outflows for five consecutive months since February.
From January through June, the cumulative outflow for the first half of the year reached $100.93 billion, or about 154.15 trillion won. By contrast, foreign funds recorded a net inflow of $42.06 billion for all of last year.
By asset class, stock funds saw a record outflow of $32.37 billion in June. Foreign equity funds have now posted net outflows for six straight months since January. The cumulative net outflow for the first half reached $110.21 billion, more than 15 times last year's full-year net outflow of $7.07 billion.
Bond funds, meanwhile, have recorded net inflows for three consecutive months since April. The cumulative net inflow for the first half of this year stood at $9.28 billion. The Bank of Korea said bond funds continued to see net inflows despite maturing Treasury bonds, supported by factors such as a higher inclusion weight in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI).
gaa1003@fnnews.com Ahn Ga-eul Reporter