Exchange-traded funds tied to the KOSPI index and South Korean chipmakers are scheduled for launches overseas later this year.
CSOP Asset Management plans to list a KOSPI 200 ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the second half of the year. This would be the first such product in Hong Kong to track the benchmark index directly.
Leverage Shares has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to offer the Leverage Shares 2X Long Memory Daily ETF. The product would aim to deliver twice the daily return of the Roundhill Memory ETF, which focuses on memory chipmakers including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
The Roundhill Memory ETF, launched in early April, has attracted assets approaching $10 billion amid strong demand for memory chips. Existing leveraged ETFs on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in Hong Kong already hold 2.4 trillion won and 7.9 trillion won in assets respectively.
Analyst Lim Eun-hye of Samsung Securities noted that the new KOSPI 200 ETF could improve overseas investors’ access to Korean equities and support further demand among Hong Kong pension funds and institutions.