Foreign investors' selling binge of local shares has shown no signs of abating as they dumped risky bets amid concerns over China's economic slowdown and its aftereffects on emerging markets, analysts said Monday. 

According to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange, offshore investors have been on a selling mode since Dec. 2, except for a brief turnaround to a net-buying mode Wednesday, offloading a net 3.96 trillion won worth of shares traded on the main Korea Composite Stock Price Index market.

The net purchase on Wednesday was due to the block deal of Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. ahead of the aircraft manufacturer's formal contract with Indonesia's defense ministry to jointly develop its next-generation fighter plane under the Korean Fighter Experimental program.

The 25-day-long selling streak until Friday is the third longest recorded so far, following a 33-day selling streak in 2008 and a 29-day run logged last year, according to the KRX. 

After beginning to dump local shares ahead of the potential U.S. rate hike, foreigners have further backed away over resurfaced fears over the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy and the subsequent rout in its stock market.

During the first week of trading in the new year, the benchmark KOSPI retreated 2.23 percent from a week ago to close at 1,917.62 points Friday.

"Investors are now facing a multiple whammy, such as the weak Chinese currency and the subsequent strong Korean won, sliding oil prices and concerns over a capital outflow from emerging economies following the U.S. rate hike," KTB Investment researcher Kim Yun-seo said. "As they are far from one-off issues, the local market will fall further." 

Foreigners shed more big cap shares than smaller ones during the cited period, the KRX data showed. 

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics was the foreign investors' top selling item, with the value totaling 1.62 trillion won during the cited period.

It was followed by 307.8 billion won of shares of top steelmaker POSCO, 173.3 billion won of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and 158 billion won of top automaker Hyundai Motor, according to the data.

"While no solid upward momentum exists out there, adding to concerns is that there will be no rally ahead of the earning season given Samsung's disappointing fourth quarter figure," Daewoo Securities researcher Kim Jung-hwan said.

Last week, the tech behemoth said it probably posted an operating profit of 6.1 trillion won in the October-December period, up 15.3 percent from the 5.2 trillion won a year earlier but down 17.5 percent from the 7.3 trillion won the previous quarter due to the sluggish sales of smartphones and memory chips. (Yonhap)