Korea's pension fund to cut stock investment in 2009
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
SEOUL, Dec 29 (Bloomberg): South Korea's National Pension Service, the nation's biggest investor with 225 trillion won (US$178 billion) in assets, will add bonds and cut back on equity investment from an earlier target after the stocks slumped.
Domestic stocks will account for 17 per cent of its assets by the end of 2009, down from its initial plan of 20.3 per cent, the fund said today in an e-mailed statement. Bonds will make up 69.3 per cent of assets next year, from 60.4 per cent earlier, according to the statement. The fund expects assets to rise to 256 trillion won by the end of next year, it said.
"It's quite natural for the fund to revise its investment plan given the current and expected market conditions,'' said Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager at KTB Asset Management Company in Seoul, which oversees the equivalent of $7 billion in assets. "South Korean markets will see continued volatility in the first six months, during which I'm planning to reduce our stock holdings before the upward trend in the late second half."
Domestic stocks will account for 17 per cent of its assets by the end of 2009, down from its initial plan of 20.3 per cent, the fund said today in an e-mailed statement. Bonds will make up 69.3 per cent of assets next year, from 60.4 per cent earlier, according to the statement. The fund expects assets to rise to 256 trillion won by the end of next year, it said.
"It's quite natural for the fund to revise its investment plan given the current and expected market conditions,'' said Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager at KTB Asset Management Company in Seoul, which oversees the equivalent of $7 billion in assets. "South Korean markets will see continued volatility in the first six months, during which I'm planning to reduce our stock holdings before the upward trend in the late second half."