Overseas stock transactions hit new high in H1

South Koreans’ transactions of foreign stocks reached a new high in the first half of the year on an overseas investment boom, data showed Monday.

Local investors’ trading of overseas shares was valued at US$207.74 billion in the January-June period, up 63 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

It also represents the largest half-year amount since data tracking began in 2011 and hovers above the $198.32 billion for the entirety of 2020.

The figure covers overseas stock purchases and sales made through the depository institution.

The value of U.S. stocks traded by South Korean investors was the largest at $193.97 billion, up 67.5 percent from the previous half of the year, accounting for 93.4 percent of the total.

Hong Kong shares came next with $8.31 billion, followed by Chinese stocks with $1.93 billion and Japanese shares with $1.52 billion.

U.S. electric vehicle titan Tesla Motors Inc. was South Korean investors’ top pick at $17.78 billion, trailed by video game vendor GameStop with $6.25 billion and smartphone behemoth Apple Inc. with $5.86 billion.

Meanwhile, South Korean investors’ transactions of overseas stocks and bonds came to $261.2 billion in the six-month period, up from $180.94 billion six months earlier and the highest half-year tally ever.