Foreign investors continued to pour into South Korean stocks last month, extending their fourth straight month of net buying, with their investment jumping more than fivefold from a month earlier, the country’s financial watchdog said Friday.

Offshore investors snapped up a net 3.6 trillion won ($3.49 billion) worth of local shares in July, compared with a net purchase of 714 billion won in the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

The value of their shareholdings came to 460.3 trillion won as of the end of July, accounting for 33.1 percent of the total market capitalization, up slightly from 32.5 percent a month ago.

Last month’s foreign inflow is fueled by the main KOSPI rally on rate-cut hopes and the government-led stimulus package. The index shot up to a three-year high of 2,082 points on July 30, starting from 2,002 points in the beginning of the month. (Yonhap)