I am not talking about big-time investors, like the ones you see on TV, in conference rooms during board meeting and arguing with everybody else. I am talking about ordinary folks. I have read different sources about the fact that common people, like an ordinary nurse, can invest in the stock market (or trade if they have all the time). Different countries have different brokers (online or whatnot, with online being the easiest today) and different requirements on how to open an account. But the question I have in mind is, can a citizen of one country invest in companies in another country? For example, can an IT personnel from Singapore buy stocks from the Korean stock market? How does that work, if it is possible?
In most cases: yes. There are certain markets that are limited, such as India and Saudi Arabia etc. But most (if not all) western countries allow foreigners to own shares of their publicly traded companies. Works just like buying shares from companies listed in your own country.
As far as I'm aware there isn't a law or barrier to stop people from investing and trading outside of their own country. I myself have never really looked into it, because I'm more than happy with the trades I'm doing at home but maybe in the future it might be an option to look at. How easy would it be to set a portfolio up for something like that?
Investing in foreign stocks means holding shares of companies that are not only based in different geographical locations, they are also driven by the respective economy-specific factors.