President’s New Deal fund picks draw over 5% return in 6 months

President Moon Jae-in has invested 50 million won ($43,700) into major funds intended to support the government’s New Deal project since January this year. About six months later, the funds have drawn more than a 5 percent average return combined, data showed Sunday.

According to financial market tracker FN Guide, the five New Deal funds operated by local asset management firms have generated a 5.26 percent return on average as of Thursday. The president, who made his investment on Jan. 15, has earned an estimated 2.63 million won in profit from the investment.

To encourage investors to actively invest in New Deal funds that promote the state’s policy drives, Moon decided to inject 10 million won into each of the funds, which invest in the digital and green sectors of locally listed stocks. He used profits from his previous investment in a separate fund named Victorious Korea Equity Fund, which was created in 2019 to foster domestic materials, parts and equipment industries.

Mirae Asset Global Investments’ Tiger KRX BBIG K-New Deal ETF, which invests in stocks dedicated to the battery, biotechnology, internet and gaming sectors, posted the highest return of 8.25 percent. It was also the only investment product that generated higher return than the country’s two bourses, Kospi and Kosdaq, which returned 5.4 percent and 7.26 percent, respectively, over the cited period.

NH-Amundi Asset Management’s Hanaro Fn K-New Deal Digital Plus ETF (6.59 percent), KB Asset Management’s KB Korea New Deal Fund (5.01 percent) and Samsung Active Asset Management’s Samsung New Deal Korea Fund (4.85 percent) had positive returns over the last six months as well, the data showed.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)