Equity rally drives managed fund performances up

THE AVERAGE Irish pension managed fund gained 2.7% in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest figures published by Mercer Investment Consulting.

“Equity markets over the third quarter continued to rally, with particularly strong performance in both July and August,” said Gráinne Alexander, senior investment consultant with Mercer.

“More recently, equities came off sharply as a result of some negative news flow, including a fall in US consumer confidence figures and a surprise OPEC oil production cut. After strong gains in the market since the end of March, it was not too surprising that a pause in the upward momentum of stocks took place on some less positive news.”