Foreign investors’ purchase of local stocks hit a record monthly high in August, as fears over the debt-mired eurozone waned and expectations for economic stimulus ran high, the financial regulator said Wednesday.

Overseas investors bought a net 6.6 trillion won ($5.82 billion) worth of local equities last month, surpassing the previous record of 6.2 trillion won posted in January this year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Their shareholdings reached 383.9 trillion won as of the end of August, up 4 trillion won from a month earlier and accounted for 31.4 percent of the total market capitalization, the FSS said.

Foreigners had remained net sellers for four straight months as of end-July, before they turned to a net buying streak for August.

British and French investors scooped up a combined 4.64 trillion won worth of local stocks after a net sell-off in July.

Saudi Arabia snapped up local stocks for a sixth consecutive month, with a net buying of 717.7 billion won in August.

Investors from Luxembourg continued their selling streak last month with a net 198.2 billion won, while the Swiss turned to offloading a net 184.9 billion won from a net purchase of 146.8 billion last month, the FSS said.

Meanwhile, foreign ownership of local bonds came in at 86.9 trillion won last month, down 2.7 trillion won from the previous month, as investors sought after profit-taking, the regulator said. (Yonhap News)