Foreign investors snapped a four-month selling streak to net purchase South Korean stocks in December but continued to reduce their investment in local bonds for a third month, central bank data showed Friday.

Foreigners net bought $660 million worth of local stocks in the month, marking a sharp turnaround from a net selling of $2.44 billion the month before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.

Foreign investors had net sold local stocks for four consecutive months since August, dumping a total of $5.16 billion over the cited period.

They continued to sell local bonds, however, offloading a net $930 million in December, following a net selling of $1.52 billion the previous month and $550 million the month before that.

"(Foreign) investment in bonds net dropped due to a large amount coming to maturity ($5.53 billion) in December, but the rate of fall slowed from the previous month," the BOK said.

Overall foreign investment in local securities net dropped by $270 million in the month, compared with a $3.96 billion plunge in November.

Meanwhile, the central bank said the daily foreign exchange turnover between banks came to $26.21 billion last year, up $1.71 billion from $24.5 billion in 2018. (Yonhap)