NPS to invest W76 tril. in markets in 2014

The National Pension Service (NPS) will make fresh investments worth 76 trillion won in financial markets in 2014, said the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday.

According to the pension fund management plan for 2014 released by the ministry, the amount of pension fund under management is expected to reach 482.4 trillion won by the end of next year, up 90 trillion won from 391.9 trillion won at the end of 2012.

Of this total, 76.1 trillion won is expected to be invested in the financial sector. Of that amount, 57.5 trillion won will be invested in stocks and bonds at home and abroad.

In 2013, the world’s fourth-largest pension fund plans to invest 20.2 trillion won in domestic bonds and stocks, 7.4 trillion won in overseas bonds and stocks, and 12.6 trillion won in other areas.

Market experts say that the NPS’s fresh investment is likely to support the sluggish financial market. “The plan is expected to give a boost to the stock market,” an analyst at Daishin Securities said.

In the meantime, the pension fund’s return on investment came to 6.99 percent in 2012, up 4.7 percentage points from the previous year. Its return on investment in the financial sector stood at 7.03 percent.