British pension funds newly enter S. Korean bourse

By Lee Youkyung

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- British pension funds made a splash on the Seoul bourse last week, snapping up local shares on the back of South Korea's promotion by the FTSE Group to developed market status, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Wednesday.

The local financial watchdog said the funds bought more than 2 trillion won
(US$1.67 billion) worth of local stocks last week.
"British pensions track the FTSE index so their entrance into the local bourse
seems to be the result of the FTSE promotion," said Choi Youn-gon, a director of
the FSS stock market team.
On Monday, South Korea was officially integrated into the developed-country
category by the FTSE Group, a global index provider jointly run by Financial
Times and the London Stock Exchange, becoming the fourth Asian countries after
Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, to join the list of the most investor-friendly
nations.
Foreign investors have emerged as the biggest net buyers in the Seoul bourse
since March, but the appearance of British pensions in local stock markets took
place only in September, according to Choi.
The country's FTSE promotion was seen as a boon to local stock markets as experts
forecast inflows of long-term advanced countries' funds would ease markets'
volatility.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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