SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors sold South Korean stocks for the second straight month in September due to growing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, financial watchdog data showed Friday.

Foreigners offloaded a net 7.36 trillion won (5.5 billion U.S. dollars) worth of local listed stocks in September, after selling shares worth 2.51 trillion won in the prior month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Offshore investors remained net sellers in the main bourse KOSPI last month, but foreigners turned into net buyers in the smaller KOSDAQ market.

The foreign sell-off was attributed to mounting geopolitical risks in the Middle East and emerging uncertainty about the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

Foreign holdings of domestically listed stocks totaled 746.9 trillion won at the end of September, taking up 28.0 percent of the total market capitalization.

Overseas investors purchased a net 12.09 trillion won worth of locally listed bonds in September.

Given maturing debts worth 8.46 trillion won, foreign net investment in the bond market stood at 3.63 trillion won last month.

Foreign ownership of domestic bonds came in at 263.4 trillion won at the end of September, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total listed bonds. (1 won equals 0.00074 U.S. dollars) Enditem

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