South Korea's exchange traded fund market posted solid growth last year, with net assets of ETFs surpassing 50 trillion won ($42.9 billion) for the first time, the bourse operator said Tuesday.

The net asset value of the country's ETFs increased 26.1 percent last year from a year earlier to amount to 51.7 trillion won, according to the Korea Exchange .

Representing a basket of stocks that reflect an index, an ETF can be traded on stock exchanges, allowing more flexibility in making investments and leeway for risk hedging.



South Korea launched the ETF market in 2002. The KOSPI advanced 7.67 percent last year, according to the Korea Exchange.

KODEX 200 had the largest net asset value at 9.33 trillion won, accounting for about 18 percent of the total.

During the one-year period, a net 6.7 trillion won in cash was funneled into the ETFs, the KRX said.

The daily turnover fell 8.8 percent on-year to 1.33 trillion won last year. The fall was relatively moderate compared to the 23.8 percent on-year dip in the trading volume of the main KOSPI market.

The net asset value of ETFs accounted for 2.8 percent of the total capitalization of the local stock market, up 0.2 percentage point on-year, the bourse operator said. (Yonhap)