Total Net Asset of ETFs in Korea Reached a New High of Over 24 Trillion Won

It has been found that the total net asset of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in South Korea hit an all-time high of more than 24 trillion won (US$21 billion) with investors around the world flocking to indirect stock investment.

The Korea Securities Depository announced on December 6 that the net asset of ETFs in the country totaled 24.073 trillion won as of the end of November this year.

This is the first time that the value exceeded 24 trillion won since the opening of the local ETF market back in 2002. The amount increased by approximately 3.8 trillion won (US$3.4 billion) compared to the same period of last year and by 1.1257 trillion won (US$1.0 billion) from a month earlier.

The values of market index ETFs and foreign index ETFs increased by 1.5536 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) and 75.4 billion won (US$67.8 million) to lead the growth, respectively. On the contrary, bond ETFs and derivative ETFs showed a decline of 294.8 billion won (US$265.3 million) and 121.9 billion won (US$109.7 million). The number of items and the total number of issued stocks reached a record high of 5,316 and 1,513,370,000 as well.