SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- The country's financial regulator on Friday said investors' minimum deposit requirement for a single-stock leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs) will be hiked starting later this month.

The deposit hike is part of a set of measures on leveraged ETFs unveiled earlier this month to help ensure market stability and protect investors as the country is experiencing extreme market volatility.

Earlier, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said the measures will take effect early next month, but President Lee Jae Myung called for a speedy implementation of such steps.

Under the measures, the listing of new ETFs tracking Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will be suspended temporarily, and investors' minimum deposit requirement for a single-stock leveraged ETF will be hiked to 30 million won (US$20,000) in cash only from the current 10 million won in mixed stocks and cash.

Also, investors will be allowed to trade a batch of 20 shares in the leveraged ETFs, which the regulator says will reduce turnover.

The leveraged ETFs, which debuted in May this year, multiply daily moves in the underlying stocks by two times, which have been causing extreme market swings.

Retail investors have been rushing to trade leveraged ETFs with underlying assets tracking the two chipmakers -- Samsung and SK hynix -- which have been on a bull run amid the ongoing global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

sam@yna.co.kr

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