Foreign investors’ buying of local stocks so far this year has topped the 8 trillion won mark, sharply rising from last year’s 3.4 trillion won, data showed Monday.

Overseas investors bought local stocks worth a combined net 8.3 trillion won ($7.76 billion) on the Seoul bourse in the January-September period, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.

They bought 5.2 trillion won worth of local stocks in the third quarter, following a net buying of 5.88 trillion won the previous quarter.

Foreign investors’ top pick was Samsung Electronics Co. with a net buy of 3.82 trillion won, followed by SK hynix with 1.49 trillion won and state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp., known as KEPCO, with 1.1 trillion won, the data showed.

In contrast, institutional investors have dumped local shares so far this year with their net selling of local stocks topping 5.8 trillion won in the first nine months of the year.

They heavily sold Samsung Electronics with net selling of 3.78 trillion won. (Yonhap)