Labor funds post record monthly gains in February

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Funds managed by the Ministry of Labor's Bureau of Labor Funds posted record gains of NT$418.4 billion (US$13.10 billion) in February on the back of a strong performance of the global financial markets, the bureau said Wednesday.

Data compiled by the bureau showed the funds' accumulated gains, which reflect overall increases in the value of assets and investments, totaled NT$813.1 billion in the first two months of this year.

The February gains smashed the previous record of NT$394.7 billion reported in January, the bureau said.

The gains during the January-February period translated into a 10.83 percent rate of return, the bureau added.

Despite geopolitical unease, U.S. stock markets benefited from corporate earnings during the current AI boom, serving as a benchmark to international markets in February. In Taiwan, its stock market got a boost from the tech sector's sound fundamentals as well as the return of funds after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, the bureau said.

In the first two months of the year, the Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, soared 22.27 percent, while the MSCI World Index rose 4.29 percent, and the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index also gained 2.06 percent.

According to the Bureau of Labor Funds, 56.39 percent of its investments were made overseas during January-February, while the remaining 43.61 percent were invested in the domestic market.

As of the end of February, the combined value of the funds managed by the bureau, including the Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund, the Employment Insurance Fund, and the Arrear Wage Payment Fund, stood at NT$8.06 trillion, data from the bureau showed.

The value of assets in the new Labor Pension Fund, launched in 2015, totaled NT$5.29 trillion as of the end of February, the highest among all funds, and its rate of return for the January-February period stood at 10.28 percent, the bureau said.

The Labor Retirement Fund, which has been in place since 1984, had about NT$1.08 trillion in assets as of the end of February, with a rate of return of 16.95 percent for the two months, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Service Pension Fund said Wednesday that the Public Service Pension Fund, which the bureau manages, recorded NT$123.38 billion in gains in the first two months of this year, equal to a rate of return of 10.06 percent.