SEOUL– South Korean investors’ holdings of foreign securities reached a new all-time high in the first quarter of the year on an overseas investment boom, data showed Thursday.
Local investors held overseas stocks and bonds worth a record US$101.68 billion as of end-March, up 1.08 percent from three months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).
The value of U.S. stocks and bonds held by South Korean investors was the largest at $70.38 billion, accounting for some 69 percent of their total overseas securities holdings.
Excluding bonds, local investors’ holdings of U.S. stocks came to $69.35 billion, or more than 87 percent of their total overseas equity holdings.
U.S. electric vehicle titan Tesla Motors Inc. was South Korean investors’ top pick with their holdings reaching $16.86 billion, followed by smartphone behemoth Apple Inc. with $5.48 billion, U.S. chipmaker Nvidia with $3.36 billion, U.S. tech holding company Alphabet Inc. with $2.52 billion and tech giant Microsoft Corp. with $2.49 billion.
Meanwhile, the value of overseas securities settled through the KSD stood at $110.69 billion in the January-March period, down 14.5 percent from three months earlier due to higher stock market instability.
Source: Yonhap News Agency