Foreigners sell S.Korean stocks in five months

Foreign investors sold South Korean stocks for the first time in five months on worries about possible Grexit, or Greek exit from the euro area, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.

Foreigners offloaded a net 389 billion won (340 million U.S. dollars) worth of local listed stocks in June, the first selloff in five months, according to the Financial Supervisory Service ( FSS).

European investors dumped domestic stocks on concerns over a Greece debt crisis by selling 2.93 trillion won of shares. Asian investors reduced stock holdings by 268 billion won, but U.S. investors bought 3.18 trillion won of shares, marking the largest buyer of South Korean stocks for four straight months.

Greece agreed Monday to creditors' demand to receive fresh bailout funds, boosting expectations for the easing of worries about the European debt crisis.

Foreign holdings of local stocks were 445.1 trillion won, or 29. 3 percent of the total market capitalization, marking the lowest since August 2011.

Net bond investment by foreigners recorded a net outflow of 561 billion won in June from a net inflow of 3.2 trillion won in May. Net bond investment means net bond buying minus maturing debts.

Net bond purchases by foreigners were 6.45 trillion won in June, lower than 7.01 trillion won of maturing debts.

French investors sold 670 billion won of local listed bonds, and British investors offloaded a net 459 billion won of bonds. Swiss investors bought local bonds worth 791 billion won.

Foreign ownership of local listed bonds were 10.6 trillion won as of end-June, down 0.3 trillion won from a month earlier. Endi