Foreigners dumped Korean stocks in an outflow amounting to over one-point-six trillion won in January after net buying for two straight months.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday, foreigners sold a net total of one-point-68 trillion won worth of local shares last month.

They bought a net 629 billion won in the main bourse KOSPI, but dumped a net two-point-three trillion won in the secondary tech-heavy KOSDAQ.

Investors from the Americas bought a net total of two trillion won, while those from Europe and Asia had net sales of two-point-three trillion won and one-point-three trillion won respectively.

As of the end of January, the value of local stocks held by foreign investors came to 722-point-five trillion won, accounting for 28-point-two percent of the country's market capitalization.