Nine of the top 10 local conglomerates ― all except SK Group ― have suffered a drastic fall in their market capitalization so far this year.

According to the Korea Exchange and financial news provider FnGuide on Sunday, the aggregate market value of the 90 listed companies affiliated to the top 10 conglomerates was 630.9 trillion won ($567 billion) at the close of Friday trading.

This was 65.6 billion won or 9.4 percent down from the 696.5 billion won at the beginning of the year.

The sharpest drop was seen in the nation’s leading conglomerate Samsung Group, whose aggregate market price nosedived by 46 trillion won or 14.1 percent over the last eight months.

LG, GS and Lotte similarly saw declines of 6.6 trillion won, 2.9 trillion won and 2.8 trillion won, respectively, officials said.

FnGuide said the key cause for Samsung’s plunge was its flagship firm Samsung Electronics stocks seeing a 17.8 percent net loss, from 232.1 trillion won to 190.8 trillion won.

Also, Samsung Engineering recorded a 53.7 percent collapse in its stock price, following a water tank explosion last month that killed three employees and injured several others.

LG Group was hit by the poor business performance of LG Chem and LG Household & Health Care, whereas GS was affected by GS Engineering & Construction’s net loss in the first quarter of the year.

Hanjin Group saw its total market price fall by 33.6 percent, from 5.5 trillion won to 3.7 trillion won, amid the slump in the shipping industry.

Hyundai Motor Group saw mixed results in the period. While total capitalization fell by 2.1 percent, the market value of its key subsidiaries Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors rose by 5.8 percent and 11.2 percent respectively.

The only net winner was SK Group, which struggled in most sectors but recorded a 38.2 percent or 4.6 trillion won growth in its telecommunications sector, according to officials.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)