Foreign investors have been on a selling spree of South Korean stocks so far this year, selling nearly 31 trillion won ($26 billion) of local shares, data showed Sunday.

Offshore investors sold a net 30.72 trillion won between Jan. 1 and Friday, compared with net selling of 24.7 trillion won for the whole year of 2020, according to the data compiled by the bourse operator, the Korea Exchange (KRX).

Offshore investors have been net sellers of local shares for seven straight months this year, except for April, the KRX said.

Noticeably, foreign investors sold a net 6.49 trillion won worth of local stocks in August, the second-largest monthly selling amount since 9.21 trillion won tallied last May, the data showed.

A foreign selling spree led to the lowest performance of the stock market among the world's major 20 advanced and emerging economies, the data showed.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 4.43 percent, lower than the declines of 0.87 percent in China and 0.99 percent in Japan. (Yonhap)