Chinese investors whose net buying had topped 1 trillion won ($837 million) annually from 2010 to 2014 have been packing out of the Korean bourse as Beijing tightened control over offshore funding to prevent steep weakening in the yuan.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on Wednesday, Chinese investors net sold 1.5 trillion won of Korean stocks from January to November 2016, about 10 times more than 136 billion won worth local stocks it had net sold in the previous year. During the same period, other nationality investors net bought a total of 11.2 trillion won worth local stocks from the January to November period last year, with Americans snapping up 5.2 trillion won of local stocks, Luxembourgers 4 trillion won worth and British 1.7 trillion won worth.

Market players also suspect the solo Chinese’ massive outflow from the local stock market could be related to Korea’s defiance of Beijing’s opposition to installing U.S. antimissile system Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in July 2016. Chinese sold local stocks for four straight months from August to November. Chinese investors held 8.616 trillion won worth Korean stocks as of end-November last year, down 7.7 percent from 9.3 trillion won as of the end of 2015.

“The Chinese government’s efforts to curb capital outflows have also influenced cashing-out in Korean stocks,” said Lee Yong-cheol from Yuanta Securities Korea Co. “If the downward pressure on the yuan accelerates capital flight from China, it would also make the Korean market volatile,” said Kang Young-soo from the Financial Services Commission’s market analysis department.

“The amount of Chinese capitals in the Korean market remains unchanged as they have net bought Korean bonds despite their net selling of local stocks,” said Chang Joon-kyeong from Financial Supervisory Service. Some market experts suggest the Chinese net selling of Korean stocks would have a limited impact on the Korean market as their investment in the local stock market accounts for less than two percent of the entire foreign investment and they keep buying Korean bonds.

By Moon Il-ho and Bae Mi-jung

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