SEOUL, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors bought South Korean stocks for the fourth successive month in February due to the government's ban on stock short-selling, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.

Foreigners acquired a net 7.38 trillion won (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) worth of locally listed stocks in February, remaining net buyers since November 2023, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Offshore investors were net buyers in both the benchmark KOSPI and the smaller KOSDAQ market.

The consecutive foreign purchase came after the financial authorities prohibited the short-selling of all listed stocks in November 2023.

Short-selling refers to the sale of stocks by borrowing them in anticipation of price fall before repaying the borrowed shares when the price goes down. It has been seen as one of the main culprits for the stock market rout.

Foreign holdings of locally listed stocks totaled 762.0 trillion won (580.4 billion dollars) at the end of February, taking up 28.1 percent of the total market capitalization.

Overseas investors bought a net 4.97 trillion won (3.8 billion dollars) worth of domestic bonds in February.

Given maturing debts worth 1.51 trillion won (1.2 billion dollars), foreign net investment in the local bond market stood at 3.46 trillion won (2.6 billion dollars) in January.

Foreign ownership of domestic bonds amounted to 248.8 trillion won (189.5 billion dollars) at the end of February, accounting for 9.8 percent of the total listed bonds. Enditem

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