Korea's value-up index outperforms KOSPI as of July

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index is displayed on screen at a dealing room of Hana Bank, central Seoul, Aug. 1. Yonhap

Korea's main bourse operator said Monday its value-up index performed better than the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), climbing over 30 percent in the January-July period.

The Korea Exchange's (KRX) value-up index climbed 35.8 percent during the past seven months, outperforming the KOSPI, which rose 35.3 percent in the same period, the KRX said in a release.

The value-up index is comprised of 100 companies that demonstrate strong performance in a range of qualitative metrics, such as profitability and shareholder returns.

The KRX introduced the index in September to enhance the corporate value of domestic companies.

Net assets in 12 ETFs tracking the value-up index reached 834.1 billion won ($602.5 million) as of end-July, jumping 68 percent from 496.1 billion won when the funds were launched in November.

Local companies have purchased 16 trillion won worth of their own shares as of end-July, while treasury stock retirements amounted to 18.3 trillion won over the same period.

In July alone, local companies bought back 6.5 trillion won worth of their own shares, data showed, with Samsung Electronics Co. accounting for 60 percent of the total.

They have also decided to pay out a combined 43.9 trillion won in dividends as of last month, up 11.3 percent from the same period last year, the KRX said.