ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF Surpasses 4 Trillion Won in Net Assets

Korea Investment Management announced on January 14 that the net asset value of the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF, the nation’s first gold spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), has surpassed 4 trillion won.

According to the Korea Exchange, as of January 13, the net asset value of the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF stood at 4.0442 trillion won. After surpassing 3 trillion won in net assets in November last year, it increased by 1 trillion won in just about two months.

The ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF, launched in 2021 by Korea Investment Management as the first gold spot ETF among domestic asset management companies, tracks the KRX Gold Spot Index calculated and published by the Korea Exchange. Gold spot ETFs do not incur futures rollover costs or indirect investment fees, and up to 70% of defined contribution (DC) retirement pensions and individual retirement pensions (IRP) can be invested in them.

The growth of the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF is attributed to steady inflows of funds. More investors are including gold ETFs in their portfolios for diversification, in addition to stocks and bond-type products. In fact, individual investors made net purchases of 1.1972 trillion won last year alone, and from January 2 to January 13 this year, net purchases amounted to 29.6 billion won.

So far this year, total fund inflows, including those from individual investors, reached 170.6 billion won. This is the largest among the 26 commodity ETFs listed in Korea, while the average fund inflow for commodity ETFs during the same period was only 13 billion won.

The returns have also been strong. The ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF recorded one-year and three-year returns of 64.30% and 178.88%, respectively. The six-month return was 46.75%, surpassing the average of 37.98% for the ten domestic gold ETFs, including leveraged products.

Nam Yongsoo, Head of ETF Management at Korea Investment Management, said, "Due to demand for inflation hedging and gold purchases by central banks around the world, the upward trend in gold prices is expected to continue this year, following 2025 as well. It would be beneficial to make long-term investments in the ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF through pension accounts and so on."

The ACE KRX Gold Spot ETF is a performance-based product, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should also be aware that principal loss may occur depending on the fund’s management results.