Wealthy Koreans will likely up investment in safe assets including dollar-denominated bonds in the latter half of this year on escalating uncertainties in home and global markets, a poll found on Thursday.

According to a survey by Samsung Securities Co. from June 11 to 20 on 260 Koreans with cash deposits of over 100 million won ($85,507), 64.1 percent of the respondents predicted the increasing uncertainties would reinforce investors’ preference for risk-free assets including dollar-denominated bonds over the second half.

The response rate was more than 10 percentage points higher than the same poll conducted early this year, meaning that rich people have turned more conservative in placing money amid prolonged trade conflicts between the United States and China and rising volatility in the Middle East.

In particular, more respondents of 58.3 percent in the latest survey from 55.3 percent in the previous one said they preferred assets paying interest in the dollar for investment. They showed a much greater interest in U.S. equities, with 30.9 percent saying the U.S. stocks would become popular investment this year, up 17.1 percent from the previous survey, due to their expectations on a rate cut in the U.S. and sound performance of companies.

A majority of 58.7 percent of the respondents said they would increase the share of overseas assets in their investment portfolio, and 14.6 percent would sharply up the share by more than 50 percent.

However, the average expected rate of annual returns was cut from 4.84 percent in the beginning of the year to 4.02 percent in the latter half. Samsung Securities predicted the appetite for safe assets including dollar-denominated assets would remain strong for the time being.

By Jung Hee-young and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]