South Korea’s equity-linked securities (ELS) issuance fell 18.1 percent on quarter in the January-March period due to bearish market conditions at home and abroad.

According to Korea Securities Depository on Thursday, total issuance of ELS products during the first quarter ended March totaled 19.87 trillion won ($17.5 billion), down 18.1 percent from the previous quarter and 15.2 percent from a year ago.

ELS issuance in the form of public offering sank 25.8 percent on quarter to 16.4 trillion won in the January-March period while private offering increased 63.6 percent to 3.4 trillion won during the same period.

ELS products that track domestic stock indices declined while that of overseas indices increased, data showed.

ELS products that track Euro Stoxx 50 as underlying assets accounted for the largest 14.86 trillion won, up 51.5 percent during the same period, followed by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprise Index (HSCEI) 12.4 trillion won, up 73 percent.

Among domestic stock indices, issuance of ELS that track Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) 200 as major underlying asset dropped 62 percent to 4.66 trillion won.

By brokerage, Samsung Securities Co. issued the largest amount of ELS in the first three months of this year at 2.7 trillion won, followed by Korea Investment & Securities Co. at 2.6 trillion won, KB Securities Co. at 2.5 trillion won, Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. at 2.4 trillion won, and NH Investment & Securities Co. at 1.98 trillion won. Top five brokerages’ total issuance amounted to 12.26 trillion won, taking up 61.7 percent of the total.

Redemption dropped 5.4 percent to 18.26 trillion won, data showed. Advanced redemption accounted for 83.5 percent at 15.2 trillion won, trailed by redemption at maturity at 2.47 trillion won, and early redemption 542 billion won. Total non-redemption balance reached 74.6 trillion won as of end of last month, up 2.3 percent from the end of December.

By Chung Hee-young and Lee Eun-joo

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