[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s three oil commodity exchange traded funds have posted abysmal returns over the past month, a fund evaluation firm said on June 27.

With crude prices on the skids for five weeks running, the oil ETFs chalked up an average return of over minus 16 percent in the month to June 23, according to Zeroin.

Oil ETFs consist of either crude firm stocks or futures and derivative contracts to track the price and performance of oil, or in some cases oil-related indexes.

International oil prices have been dropping in recent months despite an agreement between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and nonmembers to cut production.

Analysts said the oil ETFs could suffer bigger losses down the road as some watchers predict international oil prices to plunge to the US$30-per-barrel range due to concerns over a supply glut.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)