Value of foreign stock holdings halves

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- The value of foreign-owned South Korean stocks has
fallen by almost half over the last two years due to a bearish market stemming
from the global financial crisis, the financial watchdog said Thursday.
Foreign investors held listed shares worth 155.9 trillion won (US$111.8 billion)
at the end of February, compared with 308.5 trillion won in 2007, according to
the Financial Supervisory Service.
February's value accounted for 28.5 percent of the total market capitalization,
compared with 32.4 percent two years earlier.
The decrease came as foreigners sharply cut holdings of local stocks in the face
of a global credit squeeze last year, it said.
Last year alone, the benchmark KOSPI index plunged 40 percent from a year earlier
and shed 5 percent in the first two months of this year.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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