Foreign investors bought nearly a net 6 trillion won worth of South Korean stocks last year, with Samsung Electronics Co. being their top pick, data showed on Monday.

Overseas investors purchased local stocks worth a net 5.87 trillion won (US$5.31 billion) on the Seoul bourse last year, according to the data from the Korea Exchange (KRX).

Foreign investors heavily bought electronics, financial and utility stocks, while offloading petrochemicals, logistics firms and Internet service providers.

Samsung Electronics, the world's No. 1 manufacturer of smartphones, was at the top of the buying list of foreign investors with a net purchase of 3.92 trillion won.

SK hynix Inc., a global chipmaker, came next with a net buying of 1.82 trillion won, followed by state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. with 1.49 trillion won, according to the data.

In contrast, foreign investors unloaded Naver Corp., the country's leading Internet portal operator, with a net sell-off of 1.2 trillion won, followed by top mobile operator SK Telecom with 979 billion won, and major shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co. with 844 billion won, the data showed.

Foreign investors' ownership of local stocks on the main bourse stood at 34.08 percent at the end of last year, down 1.23 percentage points from a year ago, they showed.

But their stake in the tech-laden Kosdaq market increased 1.31 percentage points over the cited period to 11.18 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)