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| LCP Ireland
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Aon Hewitt on Tuesday released pension fund
investment performance figures for the month of March 2014 and the Aon Hewitt
Managed Fund Index, an index of traditional Irish pension managed funds, rose by
0.12% in March. This has contributed to the index delivering a positive return
of 2.39% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile LCP Ireland said: "Developed
World equities increased by 0.7% over the month, with Emerging Market equities
up 4.1%. Long dated AAA Eurozone bonds were up over the period, with bond yields
falling."
Aon Hewitt said the ISEQ Index experienced a
negative month, returning -3.3%.
"Heightened tensions in the Ukraine caused the price of risky assets to fall at
the beginning of March. These concerns eased towards month end, and as investor
nervousness over the Crimean tensions receded, the global equity market
delivered positive returns for the month overall," commented Evelyn Ryder,
investment director with Aon Hewitt.
Eurozone government bonds posted positive returns again in March, as the ECB
president Mario Draghi reiterated his willingness to "take additional monetary
policy measures" if required. The German 10 year bund yield was down 5 bps
(basis points) to 1.58%. The French and Dutch 10 year yields also fell 10 bps to
2.10%and 1.75% respectively. Spreads on the peripheral Eurozone bond yields
continued to contract over the month, with the Italian and Spanish 10 year bond
yields 3.31% and 3.24% respectively at month end . The Irish 10 year bond yield
fell 8 bps to 3.02%.
LCP Ireland
said that the estimated funding level (i.e. the ratio of assets to liabilities)
of a sample defined benefit scheme decreased by approximately 0.1% in March (and
increased by 1.1% over the last 12 months) to stand at 91.0%.
The assets of the sample scheme increased by 0.7%
during the month primarily due to the positive returns from equities. while
liabilities (estimated using a minimum funding standard proxy) increased by 0.8%
during the month as AAA bond yields continued to decline.
LCP Ireland Investment Summary March 2014
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