Foreign investors' net purchase of South Korean stocks reached a record high in the first quarter.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service(FSS) on Monday, foreigners bought local stocks with a net worth of 15-point-eight trillion won, or eleven-point-seven billion U.S. dollars, in the January-March period, logging the biggest quarterly purchase since the nation started compiling related data in 1998. They continued the net purchase for the fifth consecutive month.

Foreigners' net purchase soared from three-point-35 trillion won in January to seven-point-38 trillion won in February, before slowing to five-point-one trillion won in March.

Foreigners net purchased four-point-22 trillion won worth stocks from the securities market and 887 billion won from the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market in March.

As of the end of March, foreign investors held 820-point-one trillion won worth of South Korean stocks, taking up 29 percent of total market capitalization.