[THE INVESTOR]  South Koreans’ direct trading of foreign shares dropped significantly in the first half of the year as a result of a decline in investment in the Chinese market, data showed on July 17. 

During the January-June period, the total transaction volume of foreign shares by South Koreans came to US$ 6.23 billion, down by 15.96 percent from US$ 7.41 billion recorded a year earlier, according to Korea Securities Depository. The amount is a decrease of 7.74 percent from US$ 6.75 billion in the July-December period last year. 

The trade volume of Chinese stocks fell 70.43 percent to US$ 550,000 from US$ 1.86 million in the latter half of 2015. 

“As worries about the Chinese economy’s hard landing were raised in January this year, the global equity market, including the U.S and Europe, was negatively impacted,” said Hwang Se-woon, a senior researcher at the Korea Capital Market Institute. 

On the contrary, South Koreans traded a total of US$ 1.24 billion in European shares in the first half of the year, exceeding the US$ 90,000 recorded during the July-December period last year. 

The industry experts said the trend was temporary, as investors concern about the unstable Chinese economy prompted the increasing interest in the European markets. 

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)