South Korea’s National Pension Service posts 27% return in first half as domestic stocks double

South Korea’s National Pension Service delivered a 27.22% preliminary return in the first half of 2026, a result so lopsided it nearly eclipses the fund’s best-ever full-year performance before summer even ended. The engine behind those gains: domestic equities returned 107.37% over the same period, powered by a KOSPI index that roughly doubled from its end-of-2025 level. Inside the numbers NPS reported total assets of 1,866 trillion won (approximately $1.35 trillion) as of the end of June, up from 1,458 trillion won at the close of 2025. That’s roughly 408 trillion won in growth over six months, with investment income alone accounting for 401.4 trillion won. The fund’s previous record was an 18.82% full-year return in 2025, itself the highest annual return since NPS began investing in 1988. The first half of 2026 already blew past a milestone that took all of last year to set. Domestic equities did the heavy lifting. NPS holdings in Korean stocks reached 543.2 trillion won by the end of June, representing 29.1% of the total portfolio. The KOSPI’s surge of roughly 101% through the first half was driven overwhelmingly by semiconductor firms, particularly Samsung Electronics and SK h...