The average daily stock trading by foreign investors reached nearly 2 trillion won ($1.78 billion) this month, the highest ever in recorded history, according to the Korea Exchange on Friday.

In the past 25 days, the average trading value by foreigners for Korean stocks has been 1.99 trillion won, marking the highest value recorded since the Korea Composite Stock Price Index started collecting foreign investors’ data from April 2005. The previous record was 1.9 trillion won in October 2007.

The Kospi’s average foreign buying figures have risen 500 billion won compared to last month’s 1.5 trillion won and has increased more than 600 billion won compared to May last year. According to Korea Exchange, foreign investor trading accounted for approximately 32.4 percent of Kospi’s total transactions this month.

Trading value by international investors hovered around 20 percent of the total number of transactions since November 2014, but has held steady at around 30 percent since last October.

According to the data, May 10 -- the day President Moon Jae-in was sworn into office -- saw the highest foreign buying at 3.4 trillion won. The figure represents the highest record since May 31 last year at 4.6 trillion won.

In terms of market capitalization, foreign investors’ overall stake in Kospi firms is also the highest in 10 years, accounting for roughly 36.4 percent. LG Electronics currently leads the foreign investment pack with 961.6 billion won, followed by Hyundai Motor and KB Financial Group.

The Kospi, continuing its unprecedented run this month, closed at a record-high on improved investors’ sentiment on gains from the Wall Street, according to analysts.

Kospi gained 12.37 points, or 0.53 percent, to hitting a new record of 2,355.30. Trade volume was moderate at 309.17 million shares worth 6.03 trillion won ($5.38 billion).

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)