Stocks held by foreign investors in Samsung Electronics dropped to the lowest level in 27 months amid growing concerns about the global economy, data showed Wednesday. 

Offshore investors owned 48.97 percent of Samsung Electronics shares as of Monday, marking the lowest since Oct. 2, 2013, when the figure came to 48.94 percent, according to data by the Korea Exchange.

Foreign stock ownership of the country’s top-cap company has been on the decline since July, when it reached a yearly peak of 51.86 percent.

Foreign investors have sold more than 6.5 trillion won ($5.4 billion) in local stocks over the past 37 consecutive sessions, excluding a net purchase on Jan. 6, following the block deal of Korea Aerospace Industries. This marks the longest sell-off run ever.

With its fourth quarter earnings due Thursday, Samsung said earlier this month that its operating profit would plunge 17.5 percent on-quarter due mainly to sluggish sales of smartphones and memory chips. It would be the first time since the July-September period of 2014 for Samsung to post an on-quarter drop.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)