SEOUL, KOREA - During the first quarter of this year, the volume of net selling by foreign investors has been in excess of 10 trillion won. This is the highest level since the second quarter 2008 at 15,995.4 billion when the investors' sentiment froze following the global financial crisis. 

 

According to the Korea Exchange on July 8, the first-quarter net selling volume by foreigners has been 10.021.5 billion won. As foreigners moved out of the Korean stock market, the KOSPI index has also declined 6.7 percent from the beginning of the year. Except the months of February and May, foreign investors continued their sell-off trend. In June alone, the net selling volume was 5.019.7 billion won, more than a half of the net selling volume for the past six months. During the same period, KOSPI tumbled 6.88 percent.

 

Of the net-sold shares, the shares of Samsung Electronics accounted for more than 50 percent with 5,126.0 billion won. The price of Samsung has declined 11.83 percent for the six months. Other shares such as Hyundai Motor (881.3 billion won) and KEPCO (611.4 billion won) also saw their net selling volume ranked No. 2 and 3.