Foreign investors turned to net sellers of South Korean stocks last month to lock in recent gains, the country's financial watchdog said Monday.

Foreigners sold a net 142 billion won ($120 million) worth of local stocks in May, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement. 

Foreign investors' accumulated holdings of domestic stocks reached 433.96 trillion won, or 29 percent of the total market capitalization, the statement said.

But they bought a net 3.05 trillion won in stocks in the first five months as foreigners' growing appetite for risky emerging-market assets, remained firm.

Meanwhile, they bought a net 888 billion won worth of local bonds last month.

Their accumulated bond holdings were 98.93 trillion won, or 6.2 percent of the total bonds traded in the KRX's bond market, it said. (Yonhap)