Retail investors suffered losses on the South Korean stock markets this year, data showed Sunday, as the protracted economic slowdown and the weak Japanese yen continued to weigh down on Seoul shares.

The returns from the top 20 listed firms most purchased by individuals on the main bourse and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market came to minus 21 percent through Friday this year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 2.6 percent on Friday from end-2012, while the KOSDAQ market moved up 14.8 percent over the cited period.

Among the top 20 stocks, returns from market behemoth Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top smartphone maker, came in at minus 3 percent, marking the lowest losses among the firms tallied.

(Yonhap News)