Investors get Chuseok fix in China
There is no holiday for the money-oriented.Koreans traded more stocks than usual on the lucrative Chinese market during the Chuseok holiday, a time the Korean stock market closed, according to the Korea Securities Depository yesterday. The organization said in a press release that the total value of stock trades by individual investors it settled in the Hong Kong stock market was $12 million per day during Chuseok, up 100 percent from the daily average in August.
The average number of daily trades by Koreans on the Hong Kong Exchange also rose from 299 to 445 in the same time span, the organization said.
According to Park Yong-cho, head of the international settlement team at the depository, most of the traded stocks were of H-share companies, which are incorporated in China and approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a listing in Hong Kong.
Employees at Korea’s securities deposit and settlement organization did not take days off during Chuseok for the first time so they would be available to provide securities settlements for stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Japan, amid increasing interest in those stock markets.
“We decided to provide our settlement service during Chuseok as more Koreans are investing in other Asian stock markets, especially in China,” Park said.
He said Koreans traded $2.1 billion worth of shares on stock markets in China, Hong Kong and Japan in August, a 167 percent increase from the same month last year.
“We will continue to provide the service during holidays, except for Jan. 1, and on the weekends, to prevent local investors from taking a loss from delayed settlements,” he said.
Park said the holiday securities settlements would be limited to the three Asian stock markets for the time being.
By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Writer [joe@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)