National Pension Service reports first-half return of 27.2%

Odaily News: The National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea reported a first-half return of 27.2%, marking its best performance for the period since at least 2022. Strong gains in the Korean stock market boosted the investment performance of one of the world's largest pension funds. NPS said on Friday that its assets under management stood at 1,866 trillion won ($1.35 trillion) as of the end of June. As South Korea's KOSPI index climbed to record highs, returns on its Korean stock investments reached 107.4%. 

NPS Chairman Kim Sung-joo attributed the strong performance to "favorable trends in both domestic and international stock markets." Returns on NPS's overseas equity investments reached 17.8%, while overseas fixed income and alternative investments generated gains of 9.22% and 9.6%, respectively. Domestic Korean bonds, however, posted a loss of 3%. Its preliminary first-half investment return has already surpassed last year's record annual return of 18.8%. (Jin Shi)