Foreign investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for a fifth consecutive month in March, the financial regulator said Monday.

Foreigners bought a net 5.1 trillion won (US$3.7 billion) worth of listed stocks last month, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a statement.

“Foreigners have aggressively purchased local stocks this year due to the South Korean government’s ‘corporate value-up program’ and recovering demand for semiconductors,” an FSS official said over the phone.

The value-up program is aimed at ending the so-called “Korea Discount” phenomenon of local shares.

As of the end of March, foreigners held 820.1 trillion won worth of Korean stocks, the FSS said.

By country, investors from Britain and the United States purchased local stocks last month, while those from Canada and Saudi Arabia were net sellers, the FSS said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency