Foreign investors turned to net buyers of South Korean stocks last month, data showed Monday.

Offshore investors bought a net 123 billion won ($114.95 million) worth of local stocks in March, compared with net selling of 3.96 trillion won a month earlier, according to data by the Financial Supervisory Service.

They were net sellers in the main KOSPI market by offloading around 200 billion won, but their purchase of shares on the secondary KOSDAQ market offset the sell-off on the main bourse, the regulator noted.

Investors from the United States, Luxemburg and Hong Kong were major net buyers last month, while the Netherlands, Singapore and Australia dumped shares worth 300 billion won each, according to the data. 

Combined, foreign investors held 625.2 trillion won worth of local stocks as of the end of March, accounting for 31.9 percent of the country's market capitalization.

Of the total, the US accounted for 41.4 percent with 259 trillion won of shares, followed by Britain taking up 7.6 percent and Luxemburg 6.5 percent, according to the FSS.

Foreigners also bought a net 3.66 trillion won worth of local bonds in March, extending their buying mode for a third straight month.

Their holdings of local debt stood at 104.5 trillion won at the end of last month, accounting for 6.2 percent of the total market, the data showed.  (Yonhap)