South Korea's 61 securities firms posted a combined net profit of 4.33 trillion won in the first quarter, up 77 percent from a year earlier, driven by higher commission income from increased stock trading.
The Financial Supervisory Service data released Friday showed commission fee income for the firms almost doubled to 6.69 trillion won from 3.33 trillion won a year earlier. Stock turnover reached 2,775 trillion won in the January-March period, sharply higher than 641 trillion won the previous year.
Income from the firms' own investments or stock trading rose 31 percent to 4.1 trillion won. Combined assets stood at 1,098.4 trillion won at end-March, up 154 trillion won or 16.3 percent from three months earlier, while debts increased 26.8 percent to 991.5 trillion won.
The capital base climbed 4.4 percent on-quarter to 106.9 trillion won. Three futures firms recorded a net profit of 32.6 billion won, up 59 percent from a year earlier.
