National Pension Loses 182 Trillion Won in 100 Days Amid Stock Market Slump... Posts First 'Minus' Return in Seven Quarters

As the domestic stock market plummeted, the National Pension Service suffered a loss of more than 182 trillion won in the value of its domestic stock holdings in about 100 days.

According to financial information provider FnGuide, comparing the stock valuations of 287 listed companies in which the National Pension held a stake of 5 percent or more as of June 30 and October 15, the valuation stood at 515.9293 trillion won as of the end of June, but dropped to 333.5330 trillion won as of October 15.

This marks the first time in seven quarters since the fourth quarter of 2024 that the National Pension's stock valuation recorded a negative return on a third-quarter basis, with the loss reaching a record high.

The National Pension recorded a return of 189 trillion won from April 1 to July 6, which includes the second quarter, meaning it gave back all those gains in just one quarter.

In particular, a total of 132 trillion won in losses occurred from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix alone, accounting to 72 percent of the total losses.

Losses also continued across other major holdings.

SK Square saw losses of over 10 trillion won and Samsung Electro-Mechanics over 7 trillion won, with losses occurring in 176 stocks in total.

Criticism has been raised that the National Pension failed to act as a safety net by failing to absorb foreign selling pressure during the sharp downturn, and as a result, it could not avoid massive losses.

Some are also pointing out that the decision to exceptionally suspend rebalancing when the domestic stock market was surging has turned into a boomerang.

Reported by Jeong Gyeong-yun | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.