Funds managed by the Bureau of Labor Funds reported losses of NT$78.19 billion (US$2.41 billion) in September due to volatility in global markets, the bureau said yesterday.
The funds posted losses of NT$48.06 billion in August as prices of stocks and bonds on global markets fell, which analysts said were due to a sell-off of assets by investors worried that a spike in US Treasury yields would lead to more interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.
The funds’ accumulated gains totaled NT$499.1 billion in the first nine months of the year, the bureau said.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
The combined value of the funds — the Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund, the Employment Insurance Fund and the Arrear Wage Payment Fund — totaled NT$6.05 trillion as of the end of September, it said.
Based on that value, the gains represented a rate of return of 8.99 percent so far this year, while on a long-term perspective the average rate was 4.88 percent from January 2013 to September, the bureau said.
The value of Labor Pension Fund assets stood at NT$3.97 trillion at the end of September, the highest of any fund, and its rate of return was 8.91 percent, the bureau said.
The Labor Retirement Fund had about NT$1.01 trillion in assets as of the end of September, with a rate of return of 10.14 percent, it said.
Inflationary pressures and geopolitical tensions could push commodity prices higher and further undermine global financial markets, the bureau said.
The bureau said it would closely watch developments in the world economy and adjust its portfolios in a timely manner to improve investment returns over the longer term.
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