Stock Market Standby Funds Regain 100 Trillion Won in Just 5 Trading Days

Money that stock investors have parked at brokerages (investor deposits) has again exceeded 100 trillion won after just 5 trading days. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on the 23rd, investor deposits were tallied at 100.9826 trillion won that day, recovering the 100 trillion won mark for the first time since hitting 105.3275 trillion won on the 15th. This is attributed to a revival of investor sentiment as the domestic stock market rebounds, led by large-cap semiconductor stocks.

The movement of deposits tracked the market trend. Deposits fell for two consecutive days, to 99.0575 trillion won on the 16th and 97.4911 trillion won on the 17th, and remained in the 98 trillion won range on the 18th (98.3346 trillion won) and the 21st (98.1386 trillion won). However, after the KOSPI recovered the 7,000 mark on the 21st at 7,007.92—seven trading days after touching 7,033.92 on the 10th—deposits began to rise. The KOSPI has continued climbing since regaining the 7,000 level on the 21st, closing on the 23rd at 7,080.92, up 63.01 points (0.90%) from the previous day. The KOSDAQ index finished at 844.48, up 10.10 points (1.21%).

Demand for margin loans declined slightly. The margin loan balance stood at 32.8192 trillion won, down from the previous day (33.0555 trillion won). The margin balance hit a record high of 38.6328 trillion won on June 24, then fell to 27.4038 trillion won on August 4, but has gradually risen since and recently has been hovering in the 32–33 trillion won range. Unpaid trade settlement balances also fell to 853.7 billion won from the previous trading day's 872.2 billion won. Forced sell-offs to cover unpaid balances amounted to 3.7 billion won, or 0.4% of unpaid settlements.