Early Year Global Stock Market Crash... Overseas Equity Funds Show 'Negative Returns'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] This year, as major stock markets including the United States continue to experience a bear market, overseas equity funds have also reported losses close to 10% in returns.

According to fund rating agency FnGuide on the 6th, as of the 4th, the average year-to-date return of overseas equity funds with assets under management exceeding 1 billion KRW was -9.39%. This means that on average, these funds are experiencing valuation losses close to 10%. By region, most funds recorded negative average returns: North America (-10.93%), Europe (-10.70%), China (-8.25%), and Japan (-8.02%).

Since the beginning of the year, concerns over the US Federal Reserve's tightening policy have exerted downward pressure, and recently, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has become a negative factor for major stock markets.

Looking at the year-to-date performance of representative indices in each country, the US Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index is down -9.18%, China's Shanghai Composite Index -5.28%, the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index -17.27%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 -9.75%, all showing declines. Russia's representative index RTSI, a country involved in the war, plummeted by 41.29%. Russia has not opened its stock market since the 28th of last month (local time). The average return of Russian equity funds this year has halved to -58.27%.

Additionally, emerging European equity funds (-53.37%), which invest significantly in Russian stocks, and funds investing in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have also suffered large losses.

Asset management companies, facing difficulties in trading Russian stocks, have postponed redemptions and suspended subscriptions for related funds. Recently, Mirae Asset Global Investments also postponed redemptions for Russian stock-related funds such as 'Mirae Asset Russia Index Securities Investment Trust' and 'Mirae Asset Eastern Europe Sector Representative Securities Investment Trust No.1.'

On the other hand, Brazilian equity funds (16.55%) and materials sector funds (10.25%) have recorded high returns this year. This is attributed to the rise in commodity prices, which has strengthened the stock prices of related companies.

Meanwhile, as of the 4th, the assets under management of overseas equity funds stood at 33.0222 trillion KRW, increasing by 2.6449 trillion KRW (including reinvestments) this year, indicating that despite poor returns, funds continue to flow steadily.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.