South Korean retail investors have emerged as deep pockets in the stock market, pouring in more than 100 trillion won ($90.6 billion) since early last year, data showed Sunday.

Individual investors net bought a combined 102.2 trillion won in local and overseas stocks from Jan. 2, 2019, to Friday, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

During the cited period, individuals bought a net 77.8 trillion won worth of local stocks. They bought 59 trillion won worth of stocks traded on the main KOSPI market, 51.3 percent of which were top cap Samsung Electronics shares,

They poured a combined 24.4 trillion won worth of overseas stocks, 23.7 percent of which was spent on US electric carmaker Tesla.

Local brokerages expected retail investors' buying binge to continue this year.

"Investors are increasing their deposit for stock investment as much as their buying size, which indicates that they have ample bullets to spare," Samsung Securities senior researcher Jeong Myung-ji said.

In the period from Jan. 4-15, retail investors' stock buying surged to 16.7 trillion won. (Yonhap)