Stock ownership by foreign investors on South Korea’s main bourse inched up in January from December

2011 on growing optimism for an economic recovery, the stock market operator said Monday.

Overseas investors held 34.58 percent of the total shares on the main bourse as of end-January, up 1.72 percentage points from 13 months earlier, the Korea Exchange said.

Market watchers said the rise came as the country’s sovereign credit ratings rose last year, while major countries, including the U.S., injected more credit into the market through quantitative easing steps in order to prop up their growth.

Meanwhile, the net selling of foreign investors came to 1.8 trillion won ($1.72 billion) in January, the data showed, apparently due to the volatile foreign exchange market, which is feared to dent business performance.

A stronger won inflicts foreign exchange losses on exporters, making South Korean goods such as automobiles more expensive overseas, which damages local firms’ export earnings.

Investors from abroad held 45.72 percent of shares in electronic firms and 42.73 percent in communication companies, the KRX added.

Foreign investors took up 39.45 percent of large-cap shares of the listed firms over the cited period, up 2.21 percentage points from December 2011. Their proportions in mid and small shares were 16.39 percent and 5.61 percent.

Overseas investors accounted for an 86.51 percent stake in Halla Climate Control Corp., a South Korean maker of air conditioners, the highest figure among listed firms.

Local clothes manufacture Avista Inc. saw its portion of foreign investors surge to 47.95 percent in January, compared to 23.57 percent tallied in December 2011.

On the other hand, stock ownership by foreign investors in Korea Exchange Bank, the fifth-largest lender here, plunged 51.36 percent over the cited period to 19.36 percent in January, the data added. (Yonhap News)