South Korea's stock market has shown a decent performance this year compared with global peers, rebounding from the previous year's slide, data showed Friday.

The KOSPI, the country's benchmark index, had risen 4.9 percent this year as of Wednesday, standing at seventh out of the world's 20 major markets in terms of return, according to the data compiled by market researcher FnGuide.

Last year, Asia's fourth-largest economy was ranked 19th out of 20 by logging a 4.8 percent fall.

"South Korean stocks have valuation merits that have buttressed the index this year," said Kim Kwang-hyun, a researcher at Yuanta Securities.

Italy's FTSE MIB index topped this year's list with a 17.61 percent gain, followed by France's CAC 40 with 14.52 percent, the DAX index of Germany with 13.91 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 with 13.73 percent, according to the data.

Low oil prices and the local currency's weakness against the U.S. dollar were key factors for the local market's rise, the researcher noted.

While the Dow Jones industrial average of the United States came in ninth with a 0.05 percent fall, Hong Kong's H index was the worst performer, tumbling 15.49 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)