South Korean retail investors bought more bonds this year, according to statistics released on Wednesday, as they sought secure investment assets despite rising interest rates and a stock market decline.
According to South Korean Financial Investment Association data, local retail investors in South Korea purchased 10.2 trillion won ($7.6 billion) in bonds from the beginning of the year until Monday, more than double the net amount of their bond purchases last year. It was 4.5 trillion won in total.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap Agency, corporate bonds were the largest seller, with 4.6 trillion won in sales, followed by non-bank financial organisations’ bonds worth 3.1 trillion won and government bonds for 1.3 trillion won.
It is the first time since data collection began in 2006 that the net worth of retail investors’ bond purchases has surpassed 10 trillion won.
The previous high was 6.5 trillion won in 2007, and their net worth has varied between 3 trillion and 4 trillion won over the last five years.
Retail investors, on the other hand, withdrew their money from the local stock market, with a net sale of shares exceeding 900 billion won. The net sale of local shares reached 421.3 billion won in the first 22 days of this month.
Retail investors have recently shifted away from equities and toward safe-haven assets, according to market observers, amid mounting worries of a global economic slump and greater financial volatility.
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