Rally in pharm, bio stocks drives up yields in healthcare funds

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- Healthcare funds have outshone other equity funds in the past month on a recent rally in pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks, a fund ratings company said Thursday.

Healthcare funds took the top five spots in the domestic equity funds' yield rankings released on Tuesday by Korea Fund Ratings. The company surveyed the yield results of homegrown stock-based funds for the month ending June 7.

Mirae Asset Global Investment Co. managed four out of the five highest-yielding healthcare funds, with the fifth one operated by Dongbu Asset Management in the past month, according to the company.

The top ranking fund, Mirae Asset Tiger200 Healthcare fund, returned 14.51 percent in investment gains during the cited period, it said.

As they see a big growth potential in the biotechnology and healthcare industries, asset management companies are expected to increase their investments in stocks.

For example, Mirae Asset Financial Group, the parent company of Mirae Asset Global Investment, plans to invest 10 trillion won (US$8.7 billion) in new-growth businesses, including biotech and healthcare, over the next 10 years.

"We will form the 'South Korea New Growth Venture Fund' later this year to invest 1 trillion won each year in new-growth stocks such as biotech, healthcare, electric and automotive vehicles for the next 10 years," Mirae Asset Chairman Park Hyeon-joo said in an interview with a local newspaper, according to a company spokesman.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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