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Seven in 10 listed companies have reported operating profits below market consensus, impeded by stagnant domestic demand and muted export growth, data showed Sunday.

The collective poor performance was most pronounced with rechargeables, construction, duty free and consumer goods companies.

According to FnGuide, financial market data provider, 50 out of the 227 listed companies that had earnings estimates from at least three brokerages disclosed their fourth-quarter earnings.

Of them, 36 registered operating profits falling short of market consensus. Over 80 percent, or 30, reported operating profits falling more than 10 percent below market expectations, an earnings shock.

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Hyundai Engineering & Construction topped the list of the 36 firms with an operating loss of over 1.7 trillion won ($1.1 billion).

The shocking result against the 60.8 billion won in combined operating profit the market had forecast was due to one-time write-off of accounts receivables tied to an Indonesian petrochemical plant project.

Hotel Shilla logged an operating loss of 27.9 billion won, greater than the market forecast of 14.2 billion won.

HDC Hyundai Development's operating profit was limited to 41.8 billion won due to a rise in raw input material costs, falling 25.4 percent short of the market consensus of 55.9 billion won.

LG Electronics posted an operating profit of 135.4 billion won, 65.9 percent lower than the market expectation of 397 billion won. Higher logistics costs, including shipping costs, led the decline.

LG Household & Health Care's operating profit came to 43.4 billion won, 22.8 percent lower than the market consensus of 56.2 billion won. It was driven by a slowdown in demand from both the domestic and Chinese markets.