Better for S Korea to stay emerging

[SEOUL] FOR South Korean stocks, it's better to be a big emerging market than a small developed one.

Instead of welcoming a potential upgrade to developed status by MSCI Inc, money managers prefer Korean shares to remain in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index because they'll attract more money as the second-largest component, said BNP Paribas Investment Partners.

The nation's stocks beat the emerging index by about 11 percentage points in the past five years, while trailing the advanced-nation gauge by 41 points.