Following the announcement of the government's KOSDAQ market revitalization policy, enthusiasm among individual investors for KOSDAQ investments spread quickly.
According to Samsung Asset Management on the 5th, individual investors made net purchases of 496.4 billion won in two ETFs in December: the "KODEX KOSDAQ150" ETF, which tracks the KOSDAQ market's benchmark index, and the "KODEX KOSDAQ150 Leverage" ETF, which targets twice the index's daily return.
By single product, 149.2 billion won flowed into KODEX KOSDAQ150, surpassing half of last year's annual individual net purchases (259.0 billion won). KODEX KOSDAQ150 Leverage ETF drew 347.2 billion won.
This inflow is seen as driven by the "Measures to enhance trust and innovation in the KOSDAQ market" released by the Financial Services Commission on the 19th of last month. As the government moved to restore structural trust in the KOSDAQ market and establish a foundation for growth, investor sentiment improved rapidly, analysts said.
In particular, KOSDAQ's relative undervaluation is cited as a factor spurring investment demand. While the KOSPI200 index rose 90.7% for the year, ushering in the "KOSPI 4000 era," the KOSDAQ150 index rose only 37.0%.
Lee Dae-hwan, a manager at Samsung Asset Management, said, "Compared with last year's record rise in the KOSPI, KOSDAQ was relatively overlooked, highlighting its undervaluation, and the government's revitalization policy spread investor sentiment," and added, "As policy momentum strengthens this year, investors can devise active strategies through the 'KODEX KOSDAQ150 series,' which allows investment in the market's overall direction rather than individual stocks."