Foreign investors extended their buying streak to four consecutive months in the South Korean stock market in May but their net purchase waned from a month earlier on concerns over the U.S. Federal Reserve's expected rate hike, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.
  

Offshore investors bought a net 1.35 trillion won ($1.2 billion) worth of local shares in May, compared with a 4.68 trillion won net purchase the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.
  

Their stock ownership is valued at 462 trillion won as of end-May, accounting for 30.1 percent of the total market capitalization, down 0.6 percentage point from a month ago.
  

The slowdown in foreign purchase came as the U.S. Fed signaled that it would raise borrowing costs later this year and upbeat economic data fueled speculations that the rate hike would come sooner than expected.
  

U.S. investors led the buying trend by scooping up a net 1.06 trillion won, followed by Irish and Luxembourg investors with a net 292.7 billion won and a net 266.8 billion won, respectively.
  

Those from Singapore dumped a net 495 billion won worth of local stocks, while British investors offloaded a net 337.2 billion won and Qatari investors sold 93.2 billion won.
  

Foreigners remained net investors on the local bond market for a fourth consecutive month in May with a net purchase of 3.2 trillion won, sharply up from the previous month's 143 billion won, the FSS said.
  

Their bond holdings stood at 105.9 trillion won as of end-May, up 3.2 trillion won from a month earlier.
  

The Swiss were the biggest investors for local debts with a net 1.13 trillion won, followed by Luxembourg with a net 1 trillion won and Chinese with 403.4 billion won, the watchdog said. (Yonhap)