The combined foreign stake in South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics exceeded 50 % this week, the bourse operator said Wednesday, apparently as the firm posted better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

    According to the data compiled by Korea Exchange (KRX), overseas investors accounted for 50.41 % of the combined shares in Samsung Electronics as of Monday, marking the first time since December that the number moved above 50 %. It increased to 50.44 % on Tuesday.

    Overseas investors have been scooping up US$89 billion worth of Samsung Electronics shares over the three trading sessions since the company announced better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter at end-April.

    Samsung saw its net profit jump 13.55 % on-year to 5.25 trillion won (US$4.56 billion) in the January-March period, apparently helped by robust sales of its flagship smartphones.

    Samsung said the IT and mobile communications business, which covers smartphones, posted an operating profit of 3.89 trillion won, up 42 % from a year earlier. It marked the first time in nearly two years for the IT and mobile business to post an operating profit above 3 trillion won.