Hantoo Asset Management "ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF, No.1 in Pension Account Fund Inflow Among Commodity ETFs"

Korea Investment Trust Management announced on the 29th that the ACE KRX Gold Spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) continues to receive steady interest in pension accounts.

According to Koscom ETF CHECK, funds flowing into the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF from individual pensions and retirement pensions amounted to 134.2 billion KRW since the beginning of the year. This is the highest figure among 18 commodity ETFs. During the same period, the average fund inflow for the 18 commodity ETFs was only 3.9 billion KRW.

The ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF is the first domestic gold spot investment ETF listed on the Korea Stock Exchange by Korea Investment Trust Management in 2021. To date, it remains the only ETF in Korea that invests in gold spot. It tracks the "KRX Gold Spot Index," calculated and announced by the Korea Exchange, and its advantage is that it allows easy gold spot investment with a small amount.

Gold is a representative safe-haven asset. It tends to become more attractive as an investment in unstable economic environments like the recent one. In fact, the Korea Exchange reported that due to expectations of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) and increased geopolitical risks, the trading value in the gold market increased by 40% in the first half of this year compared to the previous year.

Buying momentum from individual investors is also continuing daily. Individual investors have consecutively net purchased the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF for 26 trading days from the 21st of last month to the 26th of this month. The net purchase amount during this period was 18 billion KRW. Since the beginning of the year, the net purchase amount by individual investors has reached 75.8 billion KRW. As a result, the net asset value of the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF recorded 275.2 billion KRW, an increase of 151.25% compared to the end of last year.

Seunghyun Kim, ETF Consulting Manager at Korea Investment Trust Management, explained, "Tensions between the U.S. and China continue, and expectations for interest rate cuts in the second half of the year are also increasing. Gold is a representative safe-haven asset, and when market volatility intensifies, investment demand inevitably rises."

He added, "The ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF, being a spot-type product, can be invested up to a 70% limit in pension accounts such as defined contribution (DC) retirement pensions and individual retirement pensions (IRP). It does not require separate rollover (maturity extension), allowing long-term investment at lower costs compared to futures-type products."