TIGER KEDI30 ETF tops Korean retail investors’ themed stock buy list

The TIGER KEDI30 ETF has topped the list of the most purchased exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by South Korea’s individual investors in the themed portfolio segment.

According to the Korea Exchange on Monday, retail investors have bought 37.7 billion won ($30 million) in shares included in the TIGER KEDI30 ETF year to date – the highest value among theme-based portfolios – followed by the KODEX Semiconductor ETF (21.8 billion won) and the TIGER Leisure ETF (18.8 billion won).

Debuted on the main bourse on Feb. 8, the TIGER KEDI30 ETF tracks the TIGER KEDI30 (TIGER KEDI Innovator ESG30) index created by The Korea Economic Daily, a leading Korean business newspaper.

Managed by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., the index is made up of 30 shares in the four themed categories, which are information technology, platform, future technology and bio. Companies in the portfolio are those from the internet and mobile, future mobility, environment, space, virtual reality, gaming, robot, big data, fintech and media businesses.

The KEDI30 index reflects both Korean business leaders’ views on the financial market and domestic companies’ level of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standard adoption.

Components of the index are selected through a survey, by The Korea Economic Daily and market research firm Ipsos Group, of 100 chief executives and 30 CEOs of asset managers in Korea.

Fifty innovative companies are chosen in the first screening and the final 30 companies are selected by the news organization through an ESG assessment model.

The index rebalances annually. It selects 30 stocks in September and reshuffles once a year based on market conditions.

During its first reshuffle this year, eight stocks, including LG Energy Solution Ltd., KT Corp. and Studio Dragon Corp., were newly made to the list.

RANKS FOURTH AMONG ENTIRE KOREAN STOCK ETFs

The TIGER KEDI30 ETF ranked fourth among the entire Korean stock ETFs purchased by retail investors.

At the top of the list was the KODEX200 ETF with 401.7 billion won in shares bought by individuals so far this year, followed by the TIGER200 (129.9 billion won) and the KODEX Kosdaq150 (69.9 billion won).

The combined total net asset value of ETFs listed on the Korean market surpassed 80 trillion won at the end of November, according to the Korea Exchange.

The TIGER KEDI30 ETF has outperformed Korea’s two benchmark stock indexes.

On Monday, the ETF gained 0.82%, compared with the Kospi index’s 0.15% rise and the Kosdaq index’s 0.5% rise.

Since its debut on Feb. 8, the ETF has shed 9.28%, compared with Kospi’s 16.8% fall. Over the past three months, the ETF’s return rate is 4.16%, above the Kospi’s 1.45% rise in the same period.

The Korea Economic Daily is the first to offer a market index among Korean news organizations and the fourth index provider in the country following the Korea Exchange, FnGuide Inc. and NH Investment & Securities Co.

Write to Tae-Hoon Lee at beje@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.