SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's financial institutions increased their holdings of foreign securities, such as stocks and bonds, in the third quarter, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Foreign securities, held by local institutional investors including insurers, brokerages and banks, amounted to 261.2 billion U.S. dollars as of end-September, up 9.3 billion U.S. dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was a turnaround from the 1.4 billion-U.S. dollar reduction in the second quarter. Asset management companies and insurers continued to purchase foreign bonds as the BOK refrained from altering its policy rate.
The BOK left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.50 percent since the bank raised it to that level in November last year. The central bank was widely forecast to lift the target rate at the upcoming rate-setting meeting on Friday.
The institutional ownership of foreign bonds rose 5.6 billion U.S. dollars from three months earlier to 136.9 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of September. The stock holdings grew 3.5 billion U.S. dollars to 83.1 billion U.S. dollars.
