South Korean futures companies saw their earnings soar 80.1 percent in the first quarter of fiscal
2013 from three months earlier, largely due to a hike in brokerage and derivatives investment income, the financial regulator said Monday.
The combined net loss of seven local futures firms came to 6.1 billion won ($5.47 million) in the April-June period, compared with 3.4 billion won the previous quarter, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The increase in their profits is attributable to a gain in brokerage fees, which grew by 3 billion won over the cited period, as more investors opted to make more bets in Treasurys, the FSS said.
The turnover in South Korea's three-year government bonds shot up 51.5 percent on-quarter to 1,082 trillion won at the end of June.
The futures companies also logged solid returns worth 1.3 billion won from derivatives investments during the three months, it added.
Their average net capital ratio, a key barometer of financial soundness, stood at 644.8 percent as of end-June, down 58.3 percentage points from three months ago, mainly due to a rise in risky assets, according to the regulator. (Yonhap News)
