Domestic stock funds' returns recover on market rebound

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's domestic stock investment funds are enjoying a recovery in their returns on a recent market rebound, data showed Tuesday.

Domestic equity funds with a net asset value of 1 billion won (US$821,000) or more yielded an average 7.59 percent in the week ending Monday, according to the data from market tracker FnGuide.

The number outperformed an average 5.5 percent return for overseas stock investment funds and 0.22 percent for local bond funds over the cited period.

The average yield of domestic stocks funds came to 1.25 percent during the past month, compared with minus 1.74 percent for overseas equity funds.

Domestic equity funds' solid performance was attributed to a marked recovery in the South Korean stock market.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,825.76 on Monday, up nearly 26 percent from the year's low. The price index for the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market was also up more than 39 percent.

According to FnGuide, 24 funds that focused on subsidiaries of top conglomerate Samsung Group posted an average return of 8.6 percent in the past week, higher than the median 7.91 percent for funds investing in companies belonging to other business groups.

Among overseas stock funds, those investing in Russian shares were the top performer with an average return of 11.04 percent over the one-week period, followed by funds investing in Brazilian stocks with 8.17 percent and those for Japanese shares with 7.93 percent.
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