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

<p>We know that the Korea National Pension Service (NPS) is the nation's largest institutional investor, responsible for about 7% of the local equity market. But we often overlook the fact that it is also one of the largest institutional investors in the global coal industry.</p><p>According to the joint report by several environmental organizations, including Urgewald and Reclaim France, the NPS is, in fact, the world's 11th-largest investor in the coal industry. The NPS currently invests ₩12.7T in total on the coal-related bonds and equity, of which ₩4T are invested in equity.</p><p>There is news that the NPS will introduce a negative screening on the coal investment as early as the second half of this year.</p><p>The upcoming Fund Management Committee meeting, chaired by the Minister of Health and Welfare of South Korea, is scheduled for April 30. It is the highest-level investment decision-making body within the NPS. The negative screening is officially one of the proposals to be discussed in the April 30 meeting.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Korea NPS governance structure</strong></p><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/203/038/original/1.png?1619531424" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="203038"></figure></section><div class="content-caption">(Courtesy Korea NPS)</div><p>The chances are pretty high, given the current political mood under the left-winged administration. Coal will be a starter, likely followed by tobacco and mass destruction weapons soon.</p>

We know that the Korea National Pension Service (NPS) is the nation's largest institutional investor, responsible for about 7% of the local equity market. But we often overlook the fact that it is also one of the largest institutional investors in the global coal industry.According to the joint report by several environmental organizations, including Urgewald and Reclaim France, the NPS is, in fact, the world's 11th-largest investor in the coal industry. The NPS currently invests ₩12.7T in total on the coal-related bonds and equity, of which ₩4T are invested in equity.There is news that the NPS will introduce a negative screening on the coal investment as early as the second half of this year.The upcoming Fund Management Committee meeting, chaired by the Minister of Health and Welfare of South Korea, is scheduled for April 30. It is the highest-level investment decision-making body within the NPS. The negative screening is officially one of the proposals to be discussed in the April 30 meeting.The Korea NPS governance structure(Courtesy Korea NPS)The chances are pretty high, given the current political mood under the left-winged administration. Coal will be a starter, likely followed by tobacco and mass destruction weapons soon.

Shorting Alert Amid Korea NPS Negative Screening on Coal: KEPCO, GS, OCI, Kumho P, LG Int, & POSCO

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Cross Asset Strategy

<div class="content-highlight">
<p>On 9 April, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/southkorea-nps/update-1-s-koreas-pension-fund-adjusts-rules-to-raise-domestic-equity-allocation-idUSL1N2M20EN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPS</a> announced that it will change rules to increase the allocation of Korean stocks, which would be the first time in a decade. This adjustment could be implemented starting next week. This change comes after a lot of pressure by the retail investors.</p>
<p>NPS increased the strategic asset allocation (SAA) limit for domestic equities from the current 2% to 3%, increasing the percentage of Korean stocks it can hold from the current band of 14.8% -18.8% (+/- 2% with 16.8% as base) to 13.8% -19.8% (+/- 3% with 16.8% as base). NPS's target of the domestic equity allocation is 16.8% (of total fund amount). <strong>As a result of this change, the sale of domestic stocks by the NPS is expected to slow down.</strong></p>
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On 9 April, the NPS announced that it will change rules to increase the allocation of Korean stocks, which would be the first time in a decade. This adjustment could be implemented starting next week. This change comes after a lot of pressure by the retail investors.
NPS increased the strategic asset allocation (SAA) limit for domestic equities from the current 2% to 3%, increasing the percentage of Korean stocks it can hold from the current band of 14.8% -18.8% (+/- 2% with 16.8% as base) to 13.8% -19.8% (+/- 3% with 16.8% as base). NPS's target of the domestic equity allocation is 16.8% (of total fund amount). As a result of this change, the sale of domestic stocks by the NPS is expected to slow down.


Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

MSCI Emerging Markets Index / Technical Analysis

<p>Price and RS uptrends for the MSCI EM index continues to underpin our bullish outlook for emerging market equities -- remain overweight. We continue to attribute much of EM’s outperformance to the intact downtrend in the US dollar (DXY). As long as weakness in the DXY persists we believe EM’s outperformance is likely to continue.</p>

Price and RS uptrends for the MSCI EM index continues to underpin our bullish outlook for emerging market equities -- remain overweight. We continue to attribute much of EM’s outperformance to the intact downtrend in the US dollar (DXY). As long as weakness in the DXY persists we believe EM’s outperformance is likely to continue.

EM Remains Global Leadership -- Remain Overweight

<p>Broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM) were able to shrug off recent news of a more contagious Covid variant that popped-up in the UK. Additionally, Covid fears have done nothing to derail ongoing positive market dynamics. As long as support levels hold and market dynamics remain positive, our outlook remains bullish and we continue to view any weakness as a buying opportunity. Actionable Themes in today's report: Services, Technology, Manufacturing, and Materials.</p>

Broad global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EAFE, and EM) were able to shrug off recent news of a more contagious Covid variant that popped-up in the UK. Additionally, Covid fears have done nothing to derail ongoing positive market dynamics. As long as support levels hold and market dynamics remain positive, our outlook remains bullish and we continue to view any weakness as a buying opportunity. Actionable Themes in today's report: Services, Technology, Manufacturing, and Materials.

Global Equity Strategy: Support Levels Holding; Bullish Outlook Intact

<div class="content-highlight"><p><strong>It has been reported in the past few days that <a href="http://www.koreaninvestors.com/?p=12175" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NPS</a> is likely to put a greater emphasis on ESG (environmental, social, &amp; governance) based investing for Korean stocks and bonds starting 2021. </strong>NPS has currently given a mandate to a company to help NPS to apply ESG based investment system. The ESG evaluations are expected to aid NPS to actively exercise shareholder rights and also to carry out negative screening of stocks.</p></div><h3>Implications of NPS Incorporating More ESG Criteria on Domestic Investments (Bonds &amp; Stocks)</h3><ul>
<li>Negative Impact on VICE industries </li>
<li>Positive Impact on Renewable Energy Industries</li>
<li>Negative Impact on Coal &amp; Oil Industries</li>
<li>Greater Representation of Women in Senior Management Team/BOD</li>
</ul>

It has been reported in the past few days that NPS is likely to put a greater emphasis on ESG (environmental, social, &amp; governance) based investing for Korean stocks and bonds starting 2021. NPS has currently given a mandate to a company to help NPS to apply ESG based investment system. The ESG evaluations are expected to aid NPS to actively exercise shareholder rights and also to carry out negative screening of stocks.Implications of NPS Incorporating More ESG Criteria on Domestic Investments (Bonds &amp; Stocks)
Negative Impact on VICE industries 
Positive Impact on Renewable Energy Industries
Negative Impact on Coal &amp; Oil Industries
Greater Representation of Women in Senior Management Team/BOD


NPS - Greater Emphasis of ESG Based Investing for Korean Stocks & Bonds Starting 2021

South Korea

OCI Holdings Company Ltd. operates chemical business. The Company manufactures inorganic chemicals, petroleum and coal chemicals, fine chemicals, renewable energy and insulation materials. OCI Holdings markets its products primarily throughout Korea with limited overseas.

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OCI Holdings (010060 KS)

Shorting Alert Amid Korea NPS Negative Screening on Coal: KEPCO, GS, OCI, Kumho P, LG Int, & POSCO

This post looks at the NPS-owned coal-heavy local stocks that will likely be subject to the NPS negative screening on coal.

Sanghyun Park

NPS Raises Domestic Equity Allocations

NPS increased the strategic asset allocation (SAA) limit for domestic equities from the current 2% to 3%. As a result of this change, the sale of...

Douglas Kim

EM Remains Global Leadership -- Remain Overweight

Price and RS uptrends for the MSCI EM index continues to underpin our bullish outlook for emerging market equities -- remain overweight.

Vermilion Research

Global Equity Strategy: Support Levels Holding; Bullish Outlook Intact

As long as support levels hold and market dynamics remain positive, our outlook remains bullish and we continue to view any weakness as a buying...

Vermilion Research

NPS - Greater Emphasis of ESG Based Investing for Korean Stocks & Bonds Starting 2021

It has been reported in the past few days that NPS is likely to put a greater emphasis on ESG (environmental, social, & governance) based...

Douglas Kim

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