SINGAPORE (Dec 3): Unit trusts and investment-linked insurance products (ILPs) included under the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS) increased 0.75% on average in 3Q ended Sept, according to an update by Lipper on Monday.
In particular, CPFIS-included unit trusts increased 1.28% and CPFIS-included ILPs rose 0.44%. By asset class, CPFIS-included funds, equities, bonds, mixed assets and money market funds posted positive returns of 0.95%, 0.08%, 0.65% and 0.29% respectively.
Meanwhile, the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan index and the FTSE World Government Bond Index slid 1.24% and 1.41%, respectively.
Xav Feng, Head of Asia Pacific Research, Lipper at Refinitiv, says, “In the third quarter of 2018, CPFIS funds successfully achieved positive returns despite continued market fluctuation and volatility risk. The recent sell-off in tech stocks is impacting the rest of markets while sliding oil prices are triggering concerns around a continued global economic recovery. Investors ought to remain alert amidst unstable market factors including further potential interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve and President Trump's on-going trade war with China”.
For the one-year period ended Sept, the overall performance of CPFIS-included funds posted a positive return of 3.18% on average. CPFIS-included unit trusts rallied 3.85% on the year and CPFIS-included ILPs soared 2.80% on average.
During the same time, the benchmark MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index rose 2.37% and the FTSE World Government Bond Index fell 0.93%. For the one-year period, on average, equities (+4.45%) outperformed bonds (-0.84%), mixed-assets (+2.37%) and money market funds (+0.90%).
For the three-year period ended Sept, CPFIS-included funds achieved 24.95% growth on average, accounted for by a gain of 27.88% from CPFIS-included unit trusts and 23.42% from CPFIS-included ILPs. In the same period, the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index rallied 40.94% and the FTSE World Government Bond Index achieved 1.02%. Equities were the lead gainer with growth of 32.27%, while bonds posted 4.92% return on average for the period.
Lipper was appointed by The Investment Management Association of Singapore (IMAS) and Life Insurance Association of Singapore (LIAS) to monitor the performance of all unit trusts and investment-linked insurance products included under the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS).
