South Korean currency and stocks have been the worst performers among emerging markets in Asia this month amid concerns of a slow economic recovery and a set of negative external factors, market data showed Sunday.

According to the data, the South Korean won tumbled 2.06 percent against the greenback over the past 17 days, the largest drop among the currencies of seven emerging markets in Asia.

Malaysia came next with a 0.4 percent drop in the value of its currency against the dollar, followed by Indonesia with 0.32 percent, the Philippines with 0.27 percent, Thailand with 0.22 percent, Taiwan with 0.10 percent and Singapore with 0.04 percent.

South Korea's stock market has also been the most volatile among the seven Asian bourses, according to the data.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,900.66 on Friday, down 6.21 percent from 2,026.60 on Sept. 30.

Over the period, the six other Asian markets saw their key indexes drop by between 2.20 percent and 5 percent, according to the data.

KOSPI's plunge resulted mainly from foreigners' exit from the local bourse with offshore investors selling a net 2.4 trillion won
(US$2.25 billion) this month alone.

Market watchers attributed the increased volatility of the South Korean currency and stock markets to the economy's sluggish recovery, coupled with negative overseas factors.

Last week, the Bank of Korea downgraded this year's growth outlook for the Korean economy to 3.5 percent from an earlier prediction of 3.8 percent, while other state and private economic think tanks are considering revising down their growth estimates for this year.

Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan told lawmakers during a recent parliamentary audit session that the government expects Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 3.7 percent this year from 2013, but there are some "downside risks."

Negative external factors include concerns over deflation in the eurozone economies, signs of an early interest rate hike by the United States and an economic slowdown in China, the world's second-largest economy, according to the watchers. (Yonhap)