National Pension Service Q1 Returns 4%, Fund Assets Surpass 1,500 Trillion Won

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) reported a provisional investment return of 4.42% for the first quarter of the year, bringing its total fund assets to over 1,526 trillion won (approximately $1.1 trillion USD). This marks a significant increase of about 68 trillion won from the end of the previous year.

The NPS Fund Management Center announced these performance figures, with Chairman Kim Sung-joo noting that while the mid-quarter return dipped due to the Middle East conflict, it has since recovered. He highlighted that the NPS's first-quarter performance was robust, outperforming major international pension funds.

For comparison, Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) saw a return of -1.9%, and the Netherlands' public pension fund ABP reported -0.5% during the same period. The NPS's positive returns were largely driven by its domestic stock investments, which yielded 21.67%. Despite market volatility caused by the Middle East tensions, the KOSPI index rose by 19.89% in the first quarter. In contrast, overseas stock investments yielded -0.11% amid global market uncertainties, which saw a 5.36% decline in global stock markets during the same timeframe.

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The first quarter operating return rate, affected by the Middle East war, slightly decreased compared to 10.26% at the end of February, but has now recovered and shows a good performance.