South Korea’s large-cap companies, mostly the country’s major exporters, are expected to see their earnings improve in the fourth quarter from a year ago largely due to a weak Korean won and improvement in memory chip market.

According to market consensus data compiled by local market tracker FnGuide on Sunday, the operating profit of the country’s listed companies is estimated to improve 5.6 percent on average in the fourth quarter this year from a year ago period. The survey result includes top 219 companies in market capitalization and only those with earnings estimates provided by at least market analysts.

Of the 219 companies, nearly 90 percent or 195 companies are anticipated to report a turnaround or smaller losses from a year-ago period, whereas only 24 firms are expected to report deterioration in earnings.

Market experts said the dollar’s strengthening has helped Korean exporters gain price competitiveness abroad, thus improving their overseas business. Trade disputes between the world’s two superpowers the United States and China have heightened uncertainties in the global market, strengthening the U.S. dollar, considered a safe haven asset, against other currencies including the Korean won.

The global semiconductor market, on which the Korean economy heavily relies with memory chip as the country’s mainstay export item, also has showing a sign of recovery.

Choi Do-yeon, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., said Japan’s tighter restrictions on high-tech material exports bound for Korea have caused concerns for possible disruption in global memory chip supply, briefly pushing up the global DRAM chip prices.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are responsible for more than 60 percent of global memory supplies.

Choi added that the DRAM inventory levels at global major data centers have started to decline, another upside for the chip market.

But whether their performance is sustainable beyond the final quarter remains uncertain, analysts added.

By Jung Hee-young and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]