SpaceX jumped more than 19 percent on its first day on Nasdaq, but South Korean aerospace and space exchange-traded funds and related shares weakened. Mirae Asset Securities, the only South Korean brokerage to join the SpaceX IPO underwriting group, did not receive any IPO shares for domestic distribution in the final allocation process, turning expectations of IPO-price inclusion into disappointment.

According to the financial investment industry on June 15, SpaceX listed on Nasdaq on June 12 local time and ended its first session in the $160 range, up more than 19 percent from its IPO price of $135. It rose as high as the $176 range during the session, pushing its market capitalisation above $2 trillion.

In South Korea, space-themed ETFs and related stocks fell together. By the close, TIGER US Space Tech fell 12.02 percent and ACE US Space Tech Active dropped 11.00 percent. SOL US Aerospace TOP10 fell 10.25 percent and KODEX US Aerospace slid 8.05 percent.

1Q US Aerospace Tech fell 4.85 percent, PLUS Aerospace 2.37 percent, WON US Aerospace and Defence 1.85 percent and TIME Global Space Tech & Defence Active 1.32 percent, also weakening.

At the same time, 12 of 14 SpaceX theme stocks fell. Mirae Asset Venture Investment tumbled 20.75 percent, while Kenkoa Aerospace fell 12.56 percent, HVM 10.06 percent, Aju IB Investment 6.33 percent, Nanoteam 6.35 percent and YJ Link 6.08 percent, also weakening. Mirae Asset Securities fell 1.34 percent.

The KOSPI rose more than 5 percent intraday, triggering a buy-side circuit breaker and signaling a broader return of risk appetite, but the space theme moved differently. Analysts say the issue of not receiving SpaceX IPO shares weighed on sentiment toward space ETFs and related stocks.

The key was that expectations of IPO-price inclusion fell through. Some asset managers planned to secure SpaceX IPO shares through Mirae Asset Securities and then add them to ETFs.

But after lead underwriter Goldman Sachs did not allocate Mirae Asset Securities any shares for domestic distribution, the strategy had to shift to buying in the market after listing. With shares bought at market prices above the IPO price, the IPO premium effect investors expected also diminished.

Originally, domestic public subscription participation by retail investors fell through due to procedural issues. Mirae Asset Securities then ran a private-placement subscription for professional investors and institutional investors, but it also did not receive a final allocation. Investors received their subscription deposits back, but it has been raised as a possibility that those who converted into dollars for subscriptions incurred burdens from exchange-rate moves and currency conversion fees.

The Financial Supervisory Service has also moved to grasp the situation. It converted its review of Mirae Asset Securities' SpaceX IPO subscription into an inspection and is examining how the non-allocation occurred and investor protection procedures.

It is also checking whether the possibility of not receiving IPO shares was sufficiently explained in advance, whether there was excessive marketing, and whether there were possible investor losses such as currency conversion fees and foreign exchange losses.

It also became a source of controversy that a Mirae Asset Group affiliate participated in a separate subscription as a U.S.-based institutional investor and secured some shares. The shares involve a different investment structure from the domestic distribution allocation, but from the perspective of domestic investors it could create the impression that customer allocations were not secured while affiliate allocations were.

The industry sees this case as a chance to review access to large overseas IPOs and investor disclosure systems, beyond a simple failure to secure IPO shares.

SpaceX itself succeeded on its first day of trading, but for South Korean investors it became an event that shook expectations across IPO subscriptions, ETF inclusion and related-stock investment.

Still, if SpaceX meets the requirements for inclusion in major indices such as the Nasdaq 100 in the future, the possibility remains of inflows of passive funds. Nasdaq 100 ETFs listed in South Korea could also end up holding some SpaceX through index rebalancing.

Seungbin Cho (조승빈), a researcher at Daishin Securities, said, "Space-related ETFs, including SpaceX, need a strategy of buying in tranches on price pullbacks by using periods of expanded stock price volatility."