Two-thirds of South Korea's listed firms have sharply increased their 2021 dividends in an apparent bid to appease shareholders amid a bearish stock market, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.

About 67 percent of 853 companies, which have announced their 2021 dividends as of Monday, have decided to raise their payouts from a year earlier, according to CEO Score.

The ratio is up 20.4 percent points from 46.2 percent recorded in the 2020 fiscal year.

The increase comes as the local bourse has been rocked by the fallout from U.S. tapering of bond-buying programs, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a global trend to beef up sustainable management based on the so-called environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

Some 16 percent of the total, or 134, have decided to decrease their 2021 dividends from a year earlier. The portion was down from 35.8 percent in 2020.

CEO Score said dividends by the 853 firms totaled 38.3 trillion won ($31.8 billion) for 2021, down 11.6 percent from a year earlier.

Yet the amount is up 17.5 percent on-year, given top-cap Samsung Electronics Co.'s 2020 special dividends worth 10.7 trillion won, it added.

In light of other listed firms that have yet to announce their dividends, total payouts for 2021 are expected to surpass the 40 trillion-won mark, CEO Score estimated.

No. 2 automaker Kia Corp. posted the highest on-year hike of 200 percent with 819 billion won in dividends, followed by top steelmaker POSCO with 107.3 percent and leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. with 65.6 percent.

Samsung Electronics recorded the biggest on-year drop of 51.8 percent with dividends of 9.8 trillion won, but the figure is up 2 percent on-year, excluding 2020's special dividends.

Lee Jae-yong, the chief of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, was the top dividend receiver with 343.4 billion won, followed by his mother, Hong Ra-hee, with 176 billion won and his sister Boo-jin with 158 billion won. (Yonhap)