SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Foreign investors sold South Korean stocks in 10 months on the back of growing worry about economic downturn, financial watchdog data showed Friday.

Foreigners offloaded a net 2.51 trillion won (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) worth of domestic listed stocks in August, after buying local shares for the past nine months, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Offshore investors turned into net sellers both in the main bourse KOSPI and the smaller KOSDAQ market.

The foreign sell-off came as rising concerns about economic slowdown led offshore investors to dump tech shares, especially chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Foreign holdings of local listed stocks totaled 802.1 trillion won (597.9 billion dollars) at the end of August, taking up 29.2 percent of the total market capitalization.

Overseas investors purchased a net 9.83 trillion won (7.3 billion dollars) worth of domestic listed bonds in August.

Given the maturing debts worth 1.82 trillion won (1.4 billion dollars), the foreign net investment in the bond market stood at 8.01 trillion won (5.9 billion dollars) last month.

Foreign ownership of local bonds came in at 259.4 trillion won (193.4 billion dollars) at the end of August, accounting for 10.1 percent of the total listed bonds. Enditem

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