[THE INVESTOR] Foreign investors turned net buyers on the Korean stock market last month on cautious optimism for improved corporate earnings, the central bank said on April 11.
Foreigners purchased US$170 million worth of local shares in March, turning around from sales of US$3.63 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.
On the bond market, offshore investors have remained net buyers for three months in a row, scooping up $960 million worth of bonds in March.
In total, foreigners bought a net US$1.13 billion worth on the local equity market last month.
Meanwhile, volatility in Korea’s currency markets decreased slightly in March from a month earlier amid a weakening US dollar trend.
Session-over-session changes in the US dollar-won exchange rate averaged 0.32 percent in March compared with 0.51 percent a month earlier, the BOK said.
On average, the Korean won posted 3.40 won in daily value changes against the US greenback last month, narrowing from 5.50 won tallied in the previous month, it said.
By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (
ssh@heraldcorp.com)