The combined net purchase of local and overseas shares by local individual investors surpassed 100 trillion won this year for the first time.

According to the Korea Exchange and Korea Securities Depository, as of Sunday, retail investors bought a net 103-point-37 trillion won worth of local and foreign stocks since January.

Investors purchased 65-point-63 trillion won in the country's main KOSPI market and eleven-point-eleven trillion won in the secondary tech-heavy KOSDAQ market between January 4 and December 24. The combined total reached a record high 76-point-74 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics took up the largest portion of the retail investors' stock purchase this year, as they net bought 31-point-36 trillion won.

This year, individuals also net bought 26-point-62 trillion won worth of overseas stocks as of Wednesday, up 13-point-two percent from a year earlier. Tesla took up the largest portion of the purchase.