April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s sales of derivatives-linked securities reached a new record in the first half of the year amid the stock market’s greater volatility, government data showed on Sept. 27.

The combined value of equity-linked securities and derivatives-linked securities issued in the January-June period came to 64.9 trillion won (US$58.10 billion), a new half-year high, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

It was also 5 trillion won more than the previous record set in the latter half of last year.

The products are structured to track the performance of underlying assets, not guarantee the principle, as investors prefer instruments that promise higher yields.

The issuance of ELS products jumped 35.1 percent on-year to 48.1 trillion won in the six-month period as more investors turned to them amid increased stock market volatility.

Sales of DLS instruments, which track interest rates, currency values and other underlying assets, increased 4.3 percent on-year to 16.8 trillion won in the first half.

Investors in ELS and DLS products posted a combined return of 1.4 trillion won in the first half, down 500 billion won from the same period a year earlier.

The value of outstanding ELS products reached 63.7 trillion won as of end-June, down 1.3 percent from a year ago, with the amount for DLS vehicles gaining 2.4 percent to 37.3 trillion won.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)