Korean stock market posts bearish performance among OECD members

South Korea saw its stock market suffer a bearish run this year, becoming one of this year’s worst performers among major advanced economies, South Korea’s News agency (Yonhap) reported on Tuesday. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), has fallen 0.7% through Friday this year, staying at the 30th spot among the peer markets of the OECD’s 34 member states. Besides South Korea, Chile, Turkey, Mexico and the Czech Republic were the only other bad performers among OECD countries, the data showed. Chile suffered the most, falling 13.6% during the cited period, followed by Turkey with an 11% drop. The data also showed that Japan enjoyed the sharpest rise among its peer countries, with its key stock index, the Nikkei average, rising 52.7% to 15,870.42 through Friday this year. Market watchers attributed South Korea’s share price decline to persistent concerns over the weakness of the Japanese yen and a sharp decline in share turnover. A weak yen makes prices of Korean products become relatively more expensive in overseas markets, compared with those of their Japanese rivals. The South Korean economy is highly affected by the global trade trends, with exports accounting for about 50% of the country’s economic output. Many of Korea’s key shipments, including steel and machinery, overlap those of Japan. The turnover on the main bourse came to 958.7 trillion won through last Tuesday this year, the lowest since the 848.4 trillion won tallied in 2006. Last year’s stock turnover reached 1,196 trillion won. The stock turnover had stayed above the 1,000 trillion won mark since 2007, reaching 1,410 trillion won in 2010 and 1,702 trillion won in 2011.