South Korea's 10 largest conglomerates saw their net foreign-exchange losses reach 760 billion won ($716 million) through September this year, amid the won's appreciation against the greenback, data showed Monday.

The country's 83 listed firms under the top 10 local business groups lost 16.7 trillion won from foreign-exchange volatilities over the cited period, while gaining 15.9 trillion won, the data compiled by Chaebul.com showed.

The latest number marked a sharp decrease from the previous year, when the tallied firms posted a net foreign-exchange gain of 957 billion won, the market researcher added.

Market watchers said the foreign-exchange losses came as the local currency continued to gather ground, with the won closing at 1,074.70 won against the U.S. dollar at end-September, up 5.8 percent from end-June.

The won's recent gain mainly resulted from the country's healthy economic fundamentals, and the U.S. Federal Reserve's possible tapering of stimulus plans also led investors to see the won as a safer asset, they added.

A relatively stronger won, however, also may emerge as a drag on the local economy as it inflicts foreign-exchange damage on the export-reliant country's firms, making South Korean goods more expensive overseas.

"The soaring won dealt a harsh financial blow to exporters," said Jung Sun-sup, who heads Chaebul.com. "Importers of raw materials and firms with foreign currency-denominated debts, meanwhile, fared better."

Samsung Group, which holds tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. under its wing, saw its net losses from the foreign exchange market reach 289 billion won over the cited period, compared to a loss of 171 billion won tallied a year earlier.

Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest carmaker, lost 219 billion won in the foreign exchange market, compared to a gain of 244 billion won tallied the previous year.

SK Group and LG Group also dropped 201 billion won and 282 billion won, respectively, in terms of foreign exchange related earnings, the data also showed.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, the world's biggest shipyard, was the only business group that posted a foreign-exchange gain at 96 billion won.

By affiliates, Samsung Electronics suffered a net foreign-exchange loss of 271 billion won, plunging from a net deficit of 132.3 billion won tallied a year earlier. It was trailed by LG Electronics Inc. with a net 258.8 billion won loss. (Yonhap News)