South Korea has suffered the largest outflow of foreign stock funds over the past two months among Asian emerging economies amid concerns over a U.S. interest rate hike and turbulence in China, industry data showed Thursday.
 

Foreign investors pulled out $5.2 billion from the South Korean stock market in the past eight weeks, the biggest foreign exodus among Asian emerging markets, according to the data compiled by the Korea Center for International Finance.
 

India was the second-biggest loser with an outflow of $3.28 billion, followed by Thailand with $1.71 billion and Taiwan with $1.37 billion. Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam suffered lower amounts of capital outflow.
  

Offshore investors had remained net sellers of South Korean stocks for a 29th consecutive session on the benchmark KOSPI bourse this month, the second-longest selling streak in history, before turning net buyers on Wednesday.
  

During the last four weeks alone, foreigners took a whopping $3.89 billion out of South Korea.
  

Foreign investors' selling spree sent their ownership of local stocks tumbling. Foreign stock holdings accounted for 31.89 percent of the total market capitalization as of Tuesday, down from 34.08 percent tallied at the end of 2014.
  

Analysts predicted that foreign investors' exit from South Korea will weaken to some extent as the upcoming U.S. rate decision is expected to spread uncertainty in the international financial market.
  

"Concerns over a higher U.S. rate hike have triggered foreign sell-offs," said Kim Yong-koo from Samsung Securities Co. "When a relief rally starts, South Korean stocks will be the first pick for foreign investors."
  

A recent sovereign credit upgrade by Standard & Poor's will also likely have a positive impact on foreign investors' sentiment, they added.
  

On Tuesday, S&P raised South Korea's sovereign rating one notch from A+ to AA-, citing the country's future growth potential and a decline in external debt.  (Yonhap)