The Bureau of Labor Funds sign is pictured at its office in Taipei in an undated photograph.
Photo: Lee Chin-hui, Taipei Times
SOLID GAINS:Driven by the AI craze, the funds managed by the bureau, led by the Labor Pension Fund, saw robust returns in the first six months
Staff writer, with CNA
Labor funds administered by the Bureau of Labor Funds reported a return of 28.46 percent in the first half of this year, driven by a boom in the global equity market amid demand for artificial intelligence （AI） products, data released by the bureau showed yesterday.
The accumulated gains in the value of assets in the funds’ portfolios and income on investment was about NT$2.2 trillion （US$67.82 billion） from January to June, after these funds posted NT$77.1 billion in gains in June, the bureau said in a statement.
As of the end of June, the combined value of the funds the bureau manages — including the Labor Pension Fund, the Labor Retirement Fund, the Labor Insurance Fund and the Employment Insurance Fund — stood at NT$8.896 trillion, bureau data showed.
The six-month gains of NT$2.2 trillion translated into a rate of return of 28.46 percent during the January-to-June period, up from 27.7 percent during the January-to-May period, the bureau said.
Global equity markets posted initial losses in June amid tensions in the Middle East, which pushed up oil prices, but then geopolitics improved to smooth out market sentiment, the bureau said.
Thanks to sound fundamentals, Taiwan’s market continued to receive a boost from strong AI demand, it said.
In the first six months of the year, the TAIEX, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, soared 59.25 percent and the MSCI World Index rose 11.25 percent, while the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index dropped 0.21 percent.
The bureau said 54.37 percent of its investments were made overseas from January to June, while the remaining 45.63 percent were invested in the domestic market.
The labor funds managed by the bureau are mainly aimed at aiding workers. The Labor Pension Fund collects contributions from employers and employees every month and are managed by the bureau to boost asset value to help workers save and invest for retirement.
The value of assets in the Labor Pension Fund, launched in 2015, was NT$5.796 trillion as of the end of June, the highest among all labor funds, and its rate of return for the January-to-June period stood at 28.19 percent, the bureau said.
The Labor Retirement Fund, which has been in place since 1984, had about NT$1.16 trillion in assets as of the end of June, with a rate of return of 40.74 percent for the six months, it added.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Service Pension Fund said yesterday that the Public Service Pension Fund, which the bureau manages, recorded NT$331.08 billion in gains in the first six months of this year, equal to a rate of return of 25.03 percent.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
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