Seoul: Sales of derivative-linked securities in South Korea increased in the first quarter of the year from a year earlier, data showed Thursday. The combined value of equity-linked securities (ELS) and derivative-linked securities (DLS) issued in the first quarter came to 15.8 trillion won (US$11.65 billion), up 2.8 trillion won from a year earlier.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the outstanding value of these securities reached 84.6 trillion won at the end of March, marking an increase of 3 trillion won over the same period. ELS are hybrid debt securities whose returns are determined by the performance of underlying equities, tracking benchmark stock indexes such as the Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200.
Sales of ELS products totaled 10 trillion won, up from 8 trillion won the previous year, while sales of DLS products increased to 5.9 trillion won from 5 trillion won during the cited period. The data indicated that the value of outstanding ELS products stood at 53.1 trillion won as of the end of March, down from 59.2 trillion won a year ago.
In contrast, the value of outstanding DLS was 31.5 trillion won, up from 28.9 trillion won over the same timeframe.