SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's outstanding issuance of equity-linked securities (ELS) and derivatives-linked securities (DLS) hit a new record high in the first half of the year, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.
The combined value of outstanding ELS and DLS reached 116.5 trillion won (97.2 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of June, marking the biggest figure, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). It was up 15.5 trillion won (12.9 billion U.S. dollars) from a year earlier.
The ELS refers to hybrid debt securities, whose return is determined by the performance of underlying equities such as benchmark stock indexes. The DLS tracks the performance of interest rates, currency values and other underlying assets.
Outstanding ELS expanded 12.4 trillion won (10.3 billion U.S. dollars) over the year to 76.1 trillion won (63.5 billion U.S. dollars) as of end-June, while the DLS gained 3.1 trillion won (2.6 billion U.S. dollars) to 40.4 trillion won (33.7 billion U.S. dollars).
The amount of ELS and DLS sold in the first half came to 62.5 trillion won (52.1 billion U.S. dollars), down 2.4 trillion won (2 billion U.S. dollars) from a year earlier.
The ELS and DLS can be risky for retail investors as some of the products does not guarantee the principle.
