Losses from overseas equity funds total 4.9 tln won over past 12 months

Valuation losses over the past year derived from overseas equity funds sold locally total 4.9 trillion won ($4.1 billion), due mainly to the meltdown in Chinese stocks this year, a private fund ratings company said Wednesday.

Domestic and foreign investors injected a combined 2.550 trillion won into 2,872 overseas equity-linked fund products offered by local banks, brokerages and other financial institutions in the past 12 months through May 16, a spokeswoman from the Korea Fund Ratings Co. (KFR) said.

The value of net assets in overseas equity funds fell by 2.357 trillion won to 16.891 trillion won on May 16 from 19.249 trillion won a year earlier, according to data from the KFR.

When the two loss figures are combined, it can be seen that investors suffered a total of 4.907 trillion won in overall valuation losses in the past year, the spokeswoman said, blaming China's volatile stock markets for the sharp plunge in the valuation losses.

As of Monday, the investment principal in the 2,872 fund products totaled 21.280 trillion won, with Chinese equity-related funds accounting for 40.5 percent, or 8.614 trillion won, of the total, the data said. (Yonhap)