Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund on Wednesday said its investment portfolio was at 813.2 billion ringgit ($201.3 billion) as of June 30, down marginally from 814.38 billion ringgit as of March 31 due to equity market declines for emerging markets during the period.
For the 12 months through June 30, the portfolio was up 7%.
Mohamad Nasir Ab Latif, EPF deputy CEO (investment), said in a news release capital outflows from emerging markets during the quarter, resulting from escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and rising U.S. interest rates, weighed on equity prices for emerging markets such as Malaysia.
For the latest three-month period, Malaysia's benchmark Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange index dropped more than 9% to 1,691.50.
Nevertheless, Mr. Mohamad Nasir said the EPF's diversification into different markets and sectors steadied the fund's performance during the period.
The 26.5% of the EPF portfolio invested overseas as of June 30 contributed 38.3% of the fund's 12.39 billion ringgit of investment income for the quarter.
The latest investment income tally was down 3.8% from the prior quarter but up 7.6% from the year-earlier period.
The portfolio's equity holdings, at 40.6% of the portfolio, accounted for the biggest share of investment income, at 64.4%. The fund's holdings of Malaysian government securities, loans and bonds, real estate and infrastructure, and money market instruments contributed the remainder.
