NPS logs 8.7% return in Q1-Q3 on stock boom, strong dollar

National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea posted an 8.66% investment return from January to September of this year with assets under management (AUM) amounting to 984.2 trillion won ($760 billion), the world’s third-largest pension fund said on Wednesday.

The third-quarter profit experienced a slight correction amid the Federal Reserve’s higher-for-longer interest rate, compared with 6.35% and 9.09% returns, respectively, in the first and second quarters, NPS stated. The pension giant’s cumulative profits for the first nine months reached 80.4 trillion won.

Despite woes over the global economic slowdown, Korean and overseas stocks rose during the three quarters as investors preferred risky assets on expectations of easing monetary policies and solid corporate earnings.

By asset class, public stocks in domestic and overseas markets respectively posted 13.43% and 16.07% returns in the third quarter. Local and overseas fixed-income logged 2.54% and 7.25% returns, respectively, in the July-September period.

Alternative assets, such as equity, debt, real estate and infrastructure in private markets, posted a 7.39% return in the third quarter. The profit did not reflect the assets’ fair value and is primarily from foreign exchange gains led by the strong dollar against the Korean won.

The fair value assessment for its alternative investments will be conducted by the end of this year, NPS stated.

Write to Jun-Ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.