South Korean companies increased their third-quarter investment by 7 percent from last year, mostly led by those in the IT and electronics sector, market data showed Wednesday. 

According to an analysis by CEO Score, 336 of the country’s top 500 corporations which released their Q3 performance reports executed investments totaling 124.4 trillion won ($105 billion) from July to September. 

Such figure is 8.4 trillion won higher than a year ago.

By business category, IT and electronics saw an increase of 12 trillion won in Q3 investment from last year. 

Samsung Electronics topped the list, spending 36.9 trillion won in both tangible and non-tangible assets from July to September. The figure went up by 28 percent, or 8.9 trillion won, from a year ago. 

Semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix ranked second with its investment amount increasing by 2.3 trillion won, followed by Samsung SDI (413 billion won), LG Electronics (405 billion won) and KT (379.4 billion won). 

Trading, pharmaceutical, retail, food and beverages firms also increased their investment by a combined 100 billion won over the same period. 

Investment by companies in petrochemical, automotive, steelmaking and shipbuilding sectors shrank. 

Oil refiner GS Caltex reduced their investment the most -- by 638 billion won, or 52.1 percent in the third quarter. It made a total of 586 billion won in investment from July to September. 

The country’s top telecommunication operator SK Telecom also cut back investment by 517 billion won, followed by Hyundai Motor (361 billion won) and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (345 billion won). 

The number of companies that slashed their investment amount by more than half totaled 163, taking up 48.5 percent of the 336 companies surveyed.