South Korea’s top 20 listed companies saw their combined market capitalization jump over 16 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, accounting for more than half the total value of companies listed on the main bourse, data showed Tuesday.

The combined market cap of the top 20 companies reached 605.5 trillion won ($553.3 billion) in December 2012, up 16.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the bourse operator Korea Exchange.

The figure takes up 52.46 percent of the aggregate market capitalization of the companies listed on the main bourse, up 2.49 percentage points from end-2011, the data showed.

The aggregate market capitalization of the main stock market stood at 1,154 trillion won in December 2012, up 10.7 percent from the previous year.

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s top technology firm, had the largest market cap of 229.9 trillion won as of Wednesday, or 20.52 percent of the total market capitalization.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. came next with a market cap of 48.49 trillion won, followed by POSCO with 30.8 trillion won, Hyundai Mobis Co. with 28.37 trillion won and Samsung Life Insurance Co. with 21.5 trillion won, according to the data. (Yonhap News)