Foreign investors have offloaded some 700 billion won (US$637 million) worth of Samsung Electronics stocks in the past four days, roughly half of their total net selling during the period, on renewed concerns over the tech behemoth's fourth-quarter earnings, data showed Tuesday.
   
According to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange, offshore investors extended their selling of local stocks to a fourth day Monday with their net selling reaching 1.39 trillion won over the cited period.
   
In the past four days, they offloaded 582 billion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares and 103 billion won worth of its preferred shares.
   
Hyundai Motor Co., the country's top automaker, was also hit by foreign selling that amounted to a net 119 billion won.
   
Foreign investors dumped a net 58 billion won worth of POSCO Co., the nation's top steelmaker, followed by top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. with 48 billion won and tobacco maker KT&G Corp. with 39 billion won, the data showed.
   
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones, is widely expected to log tepid earnings for the fourth quarter.
   
Samsung reported 4.1 trillion won in operating income for the third quarter, 60 percent down from a year earlier, marking the lowest in three years and a fourth consecutive quarterly decline, as it faced challenges in competing with smaller Chinese rivals and long-time rival Apple Inc.
  
The third-quarter figure marked a sharp fall from a record high of 10.1 trillion won in the same quarter last year.
   
"Samsung Electronics is expected to post an operating income of 4.3 trillion won for the fourth quarter and its first-quarter bottom line may be around that level," said Park Gang-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities. (Yonhap)