Foreign investors rush to buy S Korean shares

Foreign investors poured the largest amount of money into South Korean shares among emerging markets in Asia over the past month as easing concerns over Europe’s debt crisis prompted them to take greater risks, a report showed Sunday. Foreigners purchased a net $3.11 billion worth of South Korean stocks between July 10 and Thursday, the largest foreign net buying among six emerging markets in Asia, according to the report by Woori Investment & Securities Co. South Korea was followed by India with $1.15 billion, Indonesia with $445 million, the Philippines with $337 million, Thailand with $116 million and Taiwan with $57 million, South Korea’s news agency (Yonhap) reported. Foreign investors had started to dump South Korean shares since April, selling a net $2.34 billion worth of stocks in May alone amid the escalating European fiscal crisis. However, they have been snapping up local equities since July 27, when the head of the European Central Bank said it would do anything to salvage the debt-mired region.