Key Highlights

  • The fund holds 85 companies, with SK hynix (25.29%) and Samsung Electronics (23.12%) together at 48.41%.
  • Technology holds 57.43% of the portfolio, and South Korea 100%.
  • The management fee is 0.45% and the fund reports a standard deviation of 60.55.
  • The July 2026 distribution of $13.985 is far above the $1.425 paid in July 2025.

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (ASX:IKO) seeks to achieve its objective by tracking the performance of the MSCI Korea 25/50 Net TR Index in Australian dollars. The fund was admitted to the ASX on 15 November 2007 and reports a fund size of $188.33 million. On 13 October 2026 it last traded at $231.11, against a previous close of $251.22.

Detail

Information

Ticker

ASX:IKO

Fund

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF

Category

Equity World Other

Benchmark

MSCI Korea 25-50 NR AUD

Fund size

$188.33 million

Management fee

0.45%

Total holdings

85

ASX admission date

15 November 2007

Holdings

The ten largest positions represent 63.17% of the fund. SK hynix leads at 25.29%, followed by Samsung Electronics (23.12%), SK Square (3.15%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (2.77%) and KB Financial Group (1.95%). Shinhan Financial Group holds 1.58%, Hyundai Motor 1.48%, Hana Financial Group 1.31%, Doosan Enerbility 1.28% and Hanwha Aerospace 1.20%.

Reported turnover is 1.97%. Every holding exceeds $1 billion in market capitalisation.

Sector and country exposure

Technology holds 57.43%, against 24.99% for the category, Industrials 16.21% and Financial Services 10.74%. Healthcare holds 2.88%, far below the 24.41% category weighting, and Consumer Defensive 2.18%, against 6.70%.

South Korea accounts for 100% of the fund. Cash is 0.52% and stocks 99.48%.

Fee, risk and distributions

The management fee is 0.45% a year. The fund reports a beta of 3.62 and a standard deviation of 60.55, which indicates very wide price variation. The final distribution of $13.985 per unit had an ex-date of 1 July 2026, a record date of 2 July and payment on 13 July, equal to an annual yield of 5.56%.

That is higher than the $1.425 paid in July 2025, $2.586 in July 2024, $0.699 in July 2023 and $1.040 in July 2022.

Category classification and liquidity

Morningstar places the fund in the Equity World Other category, which covers funds investing primarily in global stocks almost exclusively, with less than 20% of the portfolio in assets other than equities and a possible bias towards a single sector or country.

Liquidity indicators add a further view. There are 749,648 units on issue, and average daily trading volume is 7,918 units. Over the five sessions from 7 to 13 October 2026, daily volume ranged from 2,200 to 17,100 units, with 17,121 recorded on 13 October while the market was still open. The bid-offer range stood at $230.70 to $233.00, and the day range at $229.80 to $250.97. These figures change through the trading day and reflect market activity rather than the fund's holdings.

Recent announcements

The issuer lodged monthly applications, redemptions and units-on-issue details on 7 October, the Annual Financial Report for the year to 30 June 2026 on 25 September, and a Product Disclosure Statement on 24 September.

Closing Perspective

IKO is a single-country fund in which two semiconductor and electronics companies make up almost half of assets. The 52-week range of $127.05 to $329.88 and the 8.00% fall on 13 October illustrate its price variability. These facts do not forecast outcomes.