[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] The returns on active equity funds have exceeded 10% since the beginning of the year, highlighting them as one of the most profitable investment methods.
According to Daishin Securities on the 20th, domestic equity funds employing an active management strategy with an equity allocation ratio of 70?100% recorded an average year-to-date return of 10.34% as of the 16th.
This significantly outperforms the 2.88% return of the representative exchange-traded fund (ETF) 'KODEX 200,' which tracks the KOSPI 200 index during the same period. While KODEX 200 follows the index, active funds are managed by fund managers aiming to exceed market returns, which is interpreted as the reason for their relatively higher profits.
Following domestic equity funds, assets with high returns included safe assets such as the US dollar and gold. Due to the continued strength of the dollar, the KRW-USD exchange rate rose 7.69%, from 1,088.0 KRW per dollar on January 4 to 1,171.7 KRW on September 16. According to the Korea Gold Exchange, the domestic wholesale price of gold increased 7.38% during the same period, from 271,000 KRW to 291,000 KRW per don (3.75 g).
Real estate, a representative investment method, showed returns lower than those of the dollar and gold. The Comprehensive Housing Sales Price Index, published monthly by the Korea Real Estate Board and based on nationwide housing sales prices, rose 6.93%, from 95.2 in December last year to 101.8 in August this year.
Under the low-interest-rate environment, fixed deposit returns remained in the 0% range. Calculating the period return from the beginning of this year to the present for a one-year fixed deposit product with an annual interest rate of 1.30% on a pro-rata basis results in a 0.93% return.
The investment method with the lowest return this year was bonds. The Korea Credit Rating Bond Composite Index fell 0.53%, from 262.54 on January 4 to 261.15 on the 16th.
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