Seoul, Oct 13 (IANS): Foreign investors remained net sellers in the South Korean stock market for the fourth consecutive month in September on worries about an interest rate hike in the US, financial watchdog data showed on Tuesday.

Foreigners sold $1.59 billion worth of local listed stocks in September, keeping a selling trend since June, Xinhua cited Financial Supervisory Service which exams and supervise the country's financial institutions.

The consecutive stock sales by foreigners came on the back of concerns about the expected US rate hike within this year and economic slump in China, South Korea's largest trade partner.

However, the September selling was down from sales of 2.26 trillion won in July and 3.94 trillion won in August as global credit rating company Standard & Poor's revised up South Korea's sovereign rating from A-plus to AA-minus on September 15.

US and Singaporean investors purchased domestic stocks worth 393 billion won and 263 billion won each, while Saudi investors dumped a net 946 billion won worth of stocks.

Foreign net investment into local listed bonds, which gauges net foreign purchase minus maturing debts, posted a net outflow of 937 billion won in September. It marked the fourth straight month of net outflow.