Shunning Seoul Stock Market
The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on Nov. 24 that the balance of overseas investment funds increased from 174.87 trillion won on Nov. 1 to 177,42 trillion won on Nov. 21 with investors shunning the South Korean stock market particularly vulnerable to external uncertainties and focusing instead on overseas investment.
The appraised value of the investment assets in the funds increased during the same period, leading to a total net asset increase from 180,556.3 billion won to 183,897.7 billion won. For the first three weeks of this month, those investing in special assets attracted 1,234.5 billion won and their total net asset increased by 1,338.2 billion won. In addition, real estate funds attracted 893 billion won with a net asset increase of 1,025.7 billion won. The balances of overseas bond and stock funds rose 192.5 billion won and 46 billion won, respectively.
Private equity funds were more aggressive in overseas investment than public funds. Specifically, the balance of the former increased from 136,396.3 billion won to 139,318.4 billion won in three weeks while the total net asset rose approximately 3,485.8 billion won. In particular, special asset funds and real estate funds attracted 1,238.3 billion won and 915.3 billion won, respectively.
The balance of domestic investment funds rose by approximately 7,299.4 billion won to 465,684.8 billion won during the period, and yet most of the increment flowed to money market funds, which means investors are failing to choose an investment destination. This has to do with the fact that the Bank of Korea lowered the key rate last month to cause an increase in liquidity and the South Korean stock market is currently fluctuating along with the bond rate. Non-ETF domestic stock funds showed an outflow of money every day except for Nov. 4 this month, losing a total of 503.2 billion won.