Slightly over half of South Korea's listed companies beat market estimates for their second-quarter operating profits as they reported earnings surprises despite unfavorable business conditions, data showed Tuesday.

According to the data by market researcher WiseFn and Hyundai Securities Co., 80 companies out of 156 that had reported second-quarter earnings as of Friday, or 50.6 percent, posted operating profits exceeding analysts' estimates for the April-June period.

Second-quarter earnings surprises were led by tech companies, shipbuilders, chemicals manufacturers and oil refiners.

Top-cap Samsung Electronics Co. surprised the market with its biggest operating profit in more than two years, bolstered by robust sales of its latest premium smartphone and cost-cutting efforts.

The second-quarter operating profit of the world's largest maker of smartphones and semiconductors came to 8.14 trillion won ($7.42 billion) in the April-June period, up 18.1 percent from the same period the year before.

Despite a severe industry-wide slump, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, logged an operating profit of 557 billion won in the second quarter, a sharp turnaround from an operating loss of 171 billion won a year earlier.

The shipyard cited the eased cost burden, a favorable currency market situation and an improvement in its non-shipbuilding business as factors that boosted its second-quarter earnings.

South Korea's top oil refiner SK Innovation Co. saw its second-quarter operating profit surge 12 percent on-year to reach 1.12 trillion won on the back of its brisk petrochemical business amid lower oil prices. It was SK Innovation's second-biggest quarterly operating profit.

Lotte Finance Chemicals Co. and other chemicals manufacturers also chalked up better-than-estimated operating profits for the second quarter.

With major companies posting better results, the combined operating profit of all listed companies is estimated to have surpassed the 40 trillion won mark for the first time, raising expectations it would help bolster the uptrend in stock prices. (Yonhap)