Hana Asset leads returns, Samsung Asset dominates trading volume An electronic board showing the Kospi at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap) South Korea’s first single-stock leveraged products tied to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix surged by double digits in their trading debut Wednesday morning as the Kospi held firmly above the 8,000 level.Samsung Asset Management dominated trading activity, while Hana Asset Management posted the highest returns.According to the Korea Exchange, Samsung Electronics rose 2.68 percent, or 8,000 won, to close at 307,000 won ($204.35), while SK hynix climbed 9.31 percent to close at around 2.243 million won.The best-performing product was a leveraged fund linked to SK hynix, which posted double-digit gains.Hana Asset Management’s SK hynix single-stock leveraged product closed 19.46 percent higher at 22,460 won, posting the strongest return among comparable products launched Wednesday.Other asset managers also posted strong gains from SK hynix's single-stock leveraged products. Kiwoom Asset Management ranked second with a return of 19.23 percent.Among major asset managers, Shinhan Asset Management posted gains of 18.7 percent, followed by Korea Investment Management at 18.63 percent, Mirae Asset Management at 18.56 percent, KB Asset Management at 18.47 percent and Samsung Asset Management at 18.44 percent.Leveraged products tied to Samsung Electronics also delivered gains roughly double the underlying stock’s daily increase.Hana Asset Management posted the highest return at 5.97 percent, followed by KB Asset Management at 5.61 percent, Mirae Asset Management at 5.53 percent, Samsung Asset Management at 5.52 percent and Kiwoom Asset Management at 5.43 percent.An official from the asset management industry said securing favorable prices during intraday futures trading was more important than portfolio management techniques, such as in-kind contribution structures.“What mattered most was buying futures contracts at attractive prices during trading hours,” the official said. “Executing futures trades at the right timing was the key factor behind the higher returns.”The official added that returns among the passive products would eventually converge over time because they track the same underlying assets.“In the end, because these are passive products tied to the same underlying stocks, their returns will become similar over time,” the official said.About 10 trillion won flowed into single-stock products during the day alone, with Samsung Asset Management accounting for more than half of the total.Its KODEX SK hynix single stock leverage product attracted 4.388 trillion won during the day, while 1.948 trillion won flowed into its KODEX Samsung Electronics single stock leverage product.Mirae Asset Management also drew trillions of won in trading value across its leveraged products tied to SK hynix and Samsung Electronics.Mirae Asset Management ranked second, with 2.0608 trillion won flowing into its SK hynix-linked product. Its Samsung Electronics leveraged product also attracted 1.0016 trillion won in trading value.Samsung Asset Management maintained a commanding lead in trading volume. Its KODEX SK hynix Single Stock Leverage product recorded 152 million shares traded, compared with 80 million shares for Mirae Asset Management’s TIGER SK hynix Single Stock Leverage product.Despite repeated warnings from financial authorities over the trading risks associated with single-stock leveraged products, the market is expected to continue expanding as new retail investors join existing leveraged traders.The website of the Korea Financial Investment Association’s Financial Investment Education Institute temporarily crashed Wednesday as single-stock leveraged products tied to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix debuted on South Korea’s stock market, after traffic had already surged the previous night between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., causing repeated access disruptions.Industry officials said that while single-stock leveraged products are generally recommended only for short-term trading and experienced leveraged investors, demand for such products is likely to continue growing as long as the Kospi rally persists and semiconductor heavyweights continue to lead the market.“As long as the Kospi rally continues and chipmakers remain market leaders, investor appetite for leveraged products will likely expand further,” an industry official said.