The daily foreign exchange (FX) turnover by local and foreign banks in South Korea reached an all-time high in the first quarter of the year amid the coronavirus outbreak, central bank data showed Thursday.

The daily FX turnover came to an average $59.37 billion in the January-March period, up 9.2 percent from the previous quarter, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The amount marks the highest since 2008, when the central bank began tracking related data.

The central bank said the surge came mainly as foreign investors pulled a large amount of stock investment funds from Asia's fourth-largest economy amid global market routs sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

Offshore investors sold a net 15.5 trillion won worth of shares traded on South Korea's main stock market during the three-month period.

The average daily turnover of foreign exchange spots climbed 8.7 percent on-quarter to $21.11 billion, with that of FX derivatives gaining 9.4 percent to $38.26 billion.

The daily turnover by local banks edged up 0.5 percent to $26.08 billion, while transactions handled by local branches of foreign lenders surged 17 percent to $33.29 billion. (Yonhap)