Foreign ownership reached record 35.3 percent as Kospi rally offset record monthly selling Electronic boards display the Kospi and Kosdaq indexes at Hana Bank's dealing room in central Seoul on Friday. The Kospi closed down 519.09 points, or 5.81 percent, at 8,411.21, while the Kosdaq fell 36.44 points, or 4.1 percent, to 851.37. (Yonhap) Foreign investors dumped a record 47 trillion won ($30.6 billion) of South Korean stocks in May, yet their market ownership climbed to an all-time high as the Kospi rally lifted the value of their remaining holdings.According to the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, foreign investors sold a net 49 trillion won on the Kospi while buying a net 2 trillion won on the Kosdaq, according to the regulator's monthly foreign securities investment report.Net selling over the first five months of the year reached 114.224 trillion won, more than 10 times the 11.077 trillion won recorded for all of 2025.Despite the heavy selling, the value of foreign-held listed equities increased by 730.9 trillion won from a month earlier to 2,852.3 trillion won at the end of May, as gains in share prices more than offset the outflows.Foreign investors' ownership rose to 35.3 percent of total market capitalization, the highest level on record.By region, investors from the Americas were the biggest net sellers, offloading 33.2 trillion won worth of shares, followed by Europe at 7.4 trillion won, the Middle East at 1.1 trillion won and other Asian countries at 100 billion won.By country, investors from the United States were the biggest net sellers, offloading 28.9 trillion won worth of shares, more than half of total foreign outflows. Even so, their holdings more than doubled to 1,188 trillion won at the end of May from 546 trillion won at the end of 2025, accounting for 41.7 percent of all foreign-held domestic equities.Canada was the second-largest net seller at 4.3 trillion won. Investors from Norway and Hong Kong were net buyers of 2.3 trillion won and 2 trillion won, respectively.Foreign investors remained net buyers of South Korean bonds for a second straight month, purchasing a net 8.8 trillion won. They bought 11.7 trillion won in bonds while receiving 2.9 trillion won in maturities.By region, Europe led bond inflows with net purchases of 5.7 trillion won, followed by Asia with 2 trillion won, the Americas with 600 billion won and the Middle East with 100 billion won.By instrument, foreign investors bought a net 9.9 trillion won of government bonds, but recorded net redemptions of 1.1 trillion won in special bonds.Foreign holdings of listed bonds rose 8.4 trillion won from a month earlier to 333.6 trillion won at the end of May, equivalent to 11.7 percent of total listed bonds outstanding.