More investors borrowed money from brokers to bet on Korean shares, causing the country‘s stock purchases made on credit to rise to a seven-month high.

As of April 8, outstanding margin loans reached 7.05 trillion won ($6.15 billion), according to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association on Tuesday. 


The figure marks the first time since Aug. 24 last year that the amount surpassed the 7-trillion won mark. It was also up sharply from a yearly low of 6.27 trillion won recorded on Feb. 19.

The purchases are being made amid bullish outlooks for the benchmark KOSPI and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ, but analysts warned that the volume is growing too large compared to the size of the markets.

While outstanding margin loans surged 12.4 percent between Feb. 19 and last Friday, the KOSPI rose just 2.9 percent over the cited period.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)