Good performance for pensions

HEWITT ASSOCIATES, a global human resources services company, yesterday released the monthly Hewitt Managed Fund Index, an indicator of Irish Pension Managed Fund performance, for the month of April 2009.

“The Hewitt Managed Fund Index posted its second consecutive positive monthly performance in April 2009, returning +8.7% for the month,” confirmed Brian Delaney, investment consultant at Hewitt Associates.

“After March’s positive return of 2.6%, the return for the last two months is over 10%, clawing back the losses of January and February.”

April’s strong performance has moved Irish Pension Funds back into positive territory for the year. The return of the Hewitt Managed Index for the first four months of the year now stands at +2.8%.

“Following a very difficult start to the year, with global equity markets declining by over 20% in many cases by mid-March, we have experienced a strong rally in the past six weeks.

“This has largely been driven by investors beginning to look past the current recessionary malaise for initial signs of recovery” said Mr Delaney.