Balanced pension funds suffer from UK exposure

performance hit by light positions in higher beta markets such as asia

Pooled balanced pension funds have posted their second consecutive quarter of positive performance, with a mean return of 3.9%, according to the latest Russell/Mellon Caps survey. This is less than the MSCI World index, however, which recorded a rise of 4.72% in sterling terms over the third quarter. The underperformance of balanced pension funds is down to their traditionally heavy weightings in the UK market and light positions in the higher beta markets such as Japan and Asia, which have performed well over the quarter. That said, over the third quarter, the average pooled balanced f...