Foreign investors have net sold nearly $110 billion in South Korean stocks year-to-date, increasing pressure on retail investors to take over.

Odaily Planet Daily News Since the beginning of this year, foreign investors have withdrawn nearly $110 billion from the South Korean stock market, hitting a record high, primarily to avoid an imbalance in their investment portfolio allocation due to the rapid rise in South Korean stocks. This has forced domestic retail investors in South Korea to shoulder most of the buying pressure. After purchasing 42.4 trillion won in June, South Korean retail investors have cumulatively net bought 13.2 trillion won in KOSPI stocks this month.

As of July 14, the balance of margin financing used by retail investors for KOSPI stock investments stood at 28 trillion won, after hitting a record high of 29.8 trillion won on June 24. French

Alexander Redman, Chief Equity Strategist at CLSA in France, said: "South Korea remains the most overweight market in our portfolio, but I have started to reduce my position. What concerns me is that the market is currently dominated by retail investors, as they are heavily using margin trading." (Jin Shi)