South Koreans' overseas stock transactions soared to a new high in the third quarter of the year on brisk investment in tech companies, data showed Thursday.

Local investors' trading of overseas shares was valued at $62.02 billion in the July-September period, an all-time quarterly record and up 42.7 percent from the previous high of $43.46 billion three months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD).

The value of US stocks traded by South Korean investors took up the largest portion with $55.45 billion, followed by Hong Kong shares with $4.28 billion and Chinese stocks with $1.12 billion.

US electric vehicle giant Tesla Motors Inc. was South Korean investors' top pick at $10.5 billion, up a whopping 315 percent from the previous quarter.

Smartphone giant Apple Inc. came next with $4.98 billion, trailed by Amazon with $2.78 billion, graphic card maker Nvidia with $2.15 billion and Microsoft Corp. with $1.69 billion.

Meanwhile, South Korean investors' transactions of overseas bonds came to $29.04 billion in the third quarter, down 10.3 percent from three months earlier.

Local investors' trading of overseas securities also reached a new high of $91.06 billion in the July-September quarter, up 20 percent from the April-June period. (Yonhap)