South korea: South Korea's overseas financial assets reached a fresh high in the second quarter, driven by increased stock investments and investment returns, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's external financial assets stood at $2.682 trillion as of end-June, up $165 billion from three months earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK) indicates that this amount marks the highest ever recorded, with the growth pace during the April-June period being the sharpest on record. Of the external financial assets, residents' securities investments rose by $112 billion on-quarter, reaching a new high of $1.13 trillion as of end-June.

Direct investment also saw an increase, rising $26.4 billion from three months earlier to reach $804.8 billion. Despite these increases, the country's net international investment position fell by $53.6 billion from three months earlier, standing at $1.034 trillion as of end-June, due to an increase in external financial debt of $219 billion over the same period, bringing the total to $1.651 trillion.

Despite the decline in the net international investment position, South Korea maintained net overseas financial assets worth over 1 trillion won for the third consecutive quarter.