Amid a pullback in the stock market in November, foreign investors have engaged in record selling on the country’s main bourse, while individuals have been active buyers.

According to the Korea Exchange on Sunday, this month foreign investors net sold 14-point-45 trillion won in the KOSPI market, or about ten billion U.S. dollars, the largest monthly figure in KOSPI history. 

The previous record was 12-point-51 trillion won in March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when global economic uncertainty and concerns over corporate earnings weakened investor sentiment across the stock market.

The decline in foreign buying this month has been attributed to weakened expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut in December and fears of an AI bubble, which caused U.S. tech stocks to stumble and dampened overall investor sentiment.

In contrast, individual investors absorbed much of the foreign selling this month. 

As of November 28, net buying by individuals in the KOSPI market reached nine-point-287 trillion won, marking the third-highest monthly net purchasing on record.