Foreign investors turned net sellers of South Korean stocks in October and their net investment in local bonds also shrank, data showed Wednesday.

Foreigners sold a net 3.34 trillion won ($2.84 billion) worth of local stocks last month, compared with their net purchase valued at 2.51 trillion won in September, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

As of end-October, foreigners held 742.17 trillion won worth of local stocks, down 27 trillion won from a month earlier.

By region, investors from the United States held 301.5 trillion won worth of local stocks, 40.6 percent of offshore investors' total holdings, followed by those from Europe with 31.4 percent and from Asia with 12.9 percent.

Foreigners' net investment in local bonds came to 2.52 trillion won in October, compared with the previous month's 5.17 trillion won worth of their net investment in the fixed-income market, the data showed.

Their bond holdings as of end-October were valued at 205.15 trillion won, up 1.5 trillion won from September. (Yonhap)