It turned out that U.S. and Ireland investors contributed the most to the KOSPI's nearly 70% rise from the start of the year.

KOSPI breaks through 4,000 for the first time ever and Samsung Electronics' stock price tops 100,000 won as the KOSPI index and Samsung Electronics' closing price are displayed at the Korea Exchange (KRX) in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 27th afternoon. /Courtesy of News1

According to data on trading trends of foreign investors compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 28th, U.S. investors recorded the largest net purchases of domestic listed shares between early June and the end of September, when the KOSPI "bull market" gathered steam. Net purchases totaled about 822.8 billion won.

Ireland investors came in second, with net purchases of about 402.9 billion won. They averaged just 140 billion won in net purchases per month from January to May, but expanded to the 1 trillion won range per month from June to September.

In addition, Luxembourg (167.5 billion won), Germany (106 billion won), and China (28.1 billion won) were tallied as having net bought sizable amounts in the domestic stock market.

U.K. investors, who tend to be short-term, realized gains by net selling 1.1891 trillion won from January to August, then turned into buyers in September with 219.1 billion won in net purchases for the month.

Meanwhile, as of the day before this month, foreign investors also net bought 588.98 billion won in the main board. Over the same period, institutions net bought 270.71 billion won, while individuals net sold 885.64 billion won.

A recent notable trend is that while the net buying by U.S. investors that had led the KOSPI's rise has somewhat weakened, inflows of U.K.-linked funds appear to be increasing.

According to separate data from the Korea Exchange (KRX) on net purchases by foreign nationality, U.K. investors (309.6 billion won) were the largest net buyers of Korean listed company shares between Oct. 1 and 24.

They were followed by Norway (58.5 billion won), Ireland (32.9 billion won), Germany (20.5 billion won), the United States (15.8 billion won), France (14.4 billion won), the British Virgin Islands (14.1 billion won), the Cayman Islands (11.7 billion won), Taiwan (11.1 billion won), and Australia (9.7 billion won), which all recorded large net purchases.

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