Overseas investors became net sellers of South Korean equities last year as they opted to buy safer assets amid global economic uncertainties, the financial watchdog said Sunday.

Foreign investors offloaded a net 9.6 trillion won ($8.4 billion) worth of stocks in 2011, compared with a net purchase of 22.9 trillion won in the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Overseas investors’ holdings of local stocks stood at 351.5 trillion won, or 30.4 percent of domestic stock ownership, as of the end of last year.

The on-year shift was mostly attributed to European investors, who dumped a net 15.1 trillion won worth of stocks.

U.S. investors continued to snap up local stocks, but sharply scaled back their purchases to a net 5.2 trillion won, compared with 14.9 trillion won a year ago.

Foreign investors’ net bond investments stood at 7.1 trillion won, more than halving from 16.9 trillion won in the previous year.

Chinese investors, however, continued to expand their holdings of local bonds, becoming the third-largest investor group with holdings worth 10.2 trillion won, the FSS said.

As of end-2011, foreign investors’ bond holdings reached 83 trillion won, or 6.9 percent of total bond ownership, according to the FSS. 

(Yonhap News)