A currency trader, wearing a mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), works in front of electronic signs showing the Korea Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a bank in Seoul, South Korea, September 10, 2020.
Kim Hong Ji | Reuters
Investors who held South Korean shares until 2020 were generously rewarded.
The Kospi index, a benchmark in the South Korean stock market, rose 30.8% in the year, its biggest annual jump in over a decade. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) increased by 38.4% in 2020, outpacing more developed and emerging markets. The year-to-date ETF gains outperform those of other widely followed emerging markets, as well as the S&P 500 in the US
South Korea’s strong stock market returns came as the country’s health response to the coronavirus pandemic – along with the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures already in place – prevented its economy from slowing down for most of 2020 .
“In South Korea, you have this combination of good public health policies along with many [economic] “said Mehran Nakhjavani, partner and emerging market strategist at MRB Partners.” The timing of all this was fortuitous.