Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s top automaker, said Thursday that its third-quarter net profit sank 25.3 percent from a year earlier largely due to a drop in emerging markets’ currencies and increased costs. In a regulatory filing, the automaker reported a net profit of 1.21 trillion won ($1.06 billion) for the July-September period, compared with a profit of 1.62 percent a year earlier. Operating income declined 8.8 percent on-year to reach 1.5 trillion won over the cited period, while sales rose 2.7 percent to 23.43 trillion won. “The weakness of emerging-market currencies and the euro offset a fall in the value of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar,” said an official at Hyundai Motor. He also cited increased promotion and marketing costs in the face of fierce competitions from foreign rivals. In the first nine months of the year, Hyundai Motor’s net profit sank 16.9 percent to 4.98 trillion won. Its sales rose 2.3 percent on-year to 67.19 trillion won, while operating income dropped 14.7 percent to 4.84 trillion won. (Yonhap)