S.Korea's institutional investment in foreign securities slows on higher market rates
Source: Xinhua   2018-05-29 12:05:51

SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Investment by South Korean financial institutions into foreign securities slowed down in the first quarter as higher interest rates in the domestic market encouraged institutions to invest in local securities, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The country's institutional investment into foreign securities stood at 253.2 billion U.S. dollars as of end-March, up 7.5 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the lowest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2016. In 2017, domestic financial institutions turned to foreign securities as the BOK kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at the all-time-low level.

The BOK raised its target rate in November last year to 1.5 percent from a record low of 1.25 percent, the first rate hike in almost six and a half years.

Expectation ran high for the BOK to lift its benchmark rate further later this year as the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy rate of 1.50-1.75 percent already surpassed the BOK's target rate.

During the January-March quarter, institutional investment into foreign stocks grew by 6.4 billion dollars, with those for foreign bonds gaining by 2.2 billion dollars.

Foreign securities holdings by local asset management companies stood at 136.1 billion dollars as of end-March, up 7.4 billion dollars from three months ago.

The figures for insurers and foreign exchange banks inched up to 79.2 billion dollars and 23.8 billion dollars each, but the number for brokerages inched down to 14.2 billion dollars.

Editor: ZD
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S.Korea's institutional investment in foreign securities slows on higher market rates

Source: Xinhua 2018-05-29 12:05:51
[Editor: huaxia]

SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Investment by South Korean financial institutions into foreign securities slowed down in the first quarter as higher interest rates in the domestic market encouraged institutions to invest in local securities, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The country's institutional investment into foreign securities stood at 253.2 billion U.S. dollars as of end-March, up 7.5 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the lowest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2016. In 2017, domestic financial institutions turned to foreign securities as the BOK kept its benchmark interest rate on hold at the all-time-low level.

The BOK raised its target rate in November last year to 1.5 percent from a record low of 1.25 percent, the first rate hike in almost six and a half years.

Expectation ran high for the BOK to lift its benchmark rate further later this year as the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy rate of 1.50-1.75 percent already surpassed the BOK's target rate.

During the January-March quarter, institutional investment into foreign stocks grew by 6.4 billion dollars, with those for foreign bonds gaining by 2.2 billion dollars.

Foreign securities holdings by local asset management companies stood at 136.1 billion dollars as of end-March, up 7.4 billion dollars from three months ago.

The figures for insurers and foreign exchange banks inched up to 79.2 billion dollars and 23.8 billion dollars each, but the number for brokerages inched down to 14.2 billion dollars.

[Editor: huaxia]
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