Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing, Clepsydra Capital

Sanghyun Park

Korea / Special Sits, Pairs, Index Rebalancing

Clepsydra Capital

Investigate special situations, pairs, and index rebalancing trades in Korea.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>Futures backwardation resulting from the short selling ban will persist. Also, the contraction of market making will lead to more widespread and frequent occurrences of extreme spreads.</li>
<li>The straightforward sell arbitrage (reverse cash and carry) is no longer viable. We must pay attention to the emergence of new price and trading patterns driven by these market conditions.</li>
<li>One potential pattern is the possibility of spot buying centered around those that exhibited extreme spreads at expiration. This has already been observed to some extent in this month's expiration.</li>
</ul>


Futures backwardation resulting from the short selling ban will persist. Also, the contraction of market making will lead to more widespread and frequent occurrences of extreme spreads.
The straightforward sell arbitrage (reverse cash and carry) is no longer viable. We must pay attention to the emergence of new price and trading patterns driven by these market conditions.
One potential pattern is the possibility of spot buying centered around those that exhibited extreme spreads at expiration. This has already been observed to some extent in this month's expiration.


Understanding Extreme SSF Spreads in Korea & Trading Approaches

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Equity Bottom-Up

HDC Hyundai Development Co-Engineering & Construction / Equity Bottom-Up

HDC Hyundai Development Co-Engineering & Construction

<ul>
<li>In this insight, we highlight the recent pricing gap divergences of the major Korean holdcos and opcos which could provide trading opportunities in 2Q 2024.</li>
<li>Of the 38 pair trades, 26 of them involved holdcos outperforming opcos in the past six months, suggesting increased capital allocation to Korean holdcos relative to their opcos.  </li>
<li>These pairs could generate trading opportunities in terms of their pricing gaps closing reversal. [CJ Corp vs CJ Cheiljedang &amp; Hanjin KAL Corp vs Korean Air Lines].</li>
</ul>


In this insight, we highlight the recent pricing gap divergences of the major Korean holdcos and opcos which could provide trading opportunities in 2Q 2024.
Of the 38 pair trades, 26 of them involved holdcos outperforming opcos in the past six months, suggesting increased capital allocation to Korean holdcos relative to their opcos.  
These pairs could generate trading opportunities in terms of their pricing gaps closing reversal. [CJ Corp vs CJ Cheiljedang &amp; Hanjin KAL Corp vs Korean Air Lines].


Korean Holdcos Vs Opcos Gap Trading Opportunities in 2Q 2024

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

<ul>
<li>The last week was a very busy one. The coming week has some announcements and implementations but is a relatively quieter one.</li>
<li>The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sse-science-and-technology-innovation-board-50-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:29279:1" rel="noopener">SSE STAR50 (STAR50 INDEX)</a> and STAR100 Index changes for March will be implemented at the close on Friday, the 8th.</li>
<li>Another week of inflows for the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/ishares-msci-emerging-markets-223f5da3-7054-4e4f-bc55-b7f0852c2581" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31998:1" rel="noopener">iShares Emerging Markets ex-China (EMXC US)</a> ETF as creations cross US$2bn for 2024. ETF AUM has gone from US$420m in 2021 to US$11bn now!</li>
</ul>


The last week was a very busy one. The coming week has some announcements and implementations but is a relatively quieter one.
The SSE STAR50 (STAR50 INDEX) and STAR100 Index changes for March will be implemented at the close on Friday, the 8th.
Another week of inflows for the iShares Emerging Markets ex-China (EMXC US) ETF as creations cross US$2bn for 2024. ETF AUM has gone from US$420m in 2021 to US$11bn now!


Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: STAR50/100, FXI, NIFTY/NEXT50, S&P500, KOSPI, Goodman, Ecopro BM

<ul>
<li>The review period for the March rebalance of the KOSPI Size Indices started 1 December and will end 29 February. The changes will be implemented at the close 14 March.</li>
<li>We see 3 migrations from MidCap to LargeCap, 4 new adds to LargeCap, 7 migrations from LargeCap to MidCap, and 11 migrations from SmallCap to MidCap.</li>
<li>On average, stocks migrating from SmallCap to MidCap have the lowest price to book value and have historically outperformed stocks migrating between other categories.</li>
</ul>


The review period for the March rebalance of the KOSPI Size Indices started 1 December and will end 29 February. The changes will be implemented at the close 14 March.
We see 3 migrations from MidCap to LargeCap, 4 new adds to LargeCap, 7 migrations from LargeCap to MidCap, and 11 migrations from SmallCap to MidCap.
On average, stocks migrating from SmallCap to MidCap have the lowest price to book value and have historically outperformed stocks migrating between other categories.


KOSPI Size Indices - Potential Migrations as Focus Is on Price to Book

<ul>
<li>The review period for the March rebalance of the KOSPI Size Indices started 1 December and will end 29 February. The changes will be implemented at the close 14 March.</li>
<li>We currently see 3 migrations from MidCap to LargeCap, 3 new adds to LargeCap, 6 migrations from LargeCap to MidCap, and 11 migrations from SmallCap to MidCap.</li>
<li>Historically, stocks migrating from SmallCap to MidCap have outperformed stocks that are migrating between other categories.</li>
</ul>


The review period for the March rebalance of the KOSPI Size Indices started 1 December and will end 29 February. The changes will be implemented at the close 14 March.
We currently see 3 migrations from MidCap to LargeCap, 3 new adds to LargeCap, 6 migrations from LargeCap to MidCap, and 11 migrations from SmallCap to MidCap.
Historically, stocks migrating from SmallCap to MidCap have outperformed stocks that are migrating between other categories.


KOSPI Size Indices - The Outperformance Continues

South Korea

BGF Retail Co., Ltd. operates convenience stores. The Company retails delicatessen, sweets, snacks, beverages, tobacco, and other related products. BGF Retail markets its products throughout South Korea.

BGF retail (282330 KS)

Understanding Extreme SSF Spreads in Korea & Trading Approaches

This post offers insights into the currently observed extreme spreads in the Korean single stock futures market and explores practical trading...

Sanghyun Park

Korean Holdcos Vs Opcos Gap Trading Opportunities in 2Q 2024

In this insight, we highlight the recent pricing gap divergences of the major Korean holdcos and opcos which could provide trading opportunities in...

Douglas Kim

Index Rebalance & ETF Flow Recap: STAR50/100, FXI, NIFTY/NEXT50, S&P500, KOSPI, Goodman, Ecopro BM

This recap highlights Insights covering Asian index rebalances (announcements/ forecasts/ IPO Fast Entry/ M&A driven changes). We also highlight...

Brian Freitas

KOSPI Size Indices - Potential Migrations as Focus Is on Price to Book

We see 35 migrations and 7 new inclusions for the KOSPI Size indices. Stocks migrating higher have outperformed stocks migrating lower. Some stocks...

Brian Freitas

KOSPI Size Indices - The Outperformance Continues

We see 34 migrations and 6 new inclusions for the KOSPI Size indices. Stocks migrating higher have outperformed stocks migrating lower. Some stocks...

Brian Freitas