□ The National Pension Fund delivered a return of more than 9% for the first half of 2024. 

  ○ The NPS Investment Management, a dedicated fund management arm of National Pension Service (NPS; Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Kim Tae-hyun), announced today that the Fund achieved a preliminary return of 9.71%, equivalent to KRW 102.4 trillion, for the January-June period. 

  ○ This raised the total assets under management to KRW 1,147 trillion, which includes KRW 680.4 trillion in cumulative investment income since the launch of the National Pension Plan in 1988.

□ By asset class and on a money-weighted return basis, the best performer was global equity with a return of 20.47%, followed by domestic equity at 8.61%, global fixed income at 7.95%, alternatives at 7.79%, and domestic fixed income at 1.66%.

  ○ The achievement for the six-month period was largely driven by robust performance in domestic and global equity, led by U.S. tech stocks, and a rise in the USD/KRW exchange rate that had a positive impact on returns from global investments.

  ○ Specifically, despite concerns over rising inflation in the U.S., domestic and global equity performed well, backed by a rally in mega-cap tech stocks on hopes of growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, the depreciation of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar contributed to global equity delivering a return of over 20%.
* Domestic Stock Market (KOSPI): up 5.37% from the start of the year Global Stock Market (MSCI ACWI ex-Korea, USD): up 11.88% from the start of the yearUSD/KRW exchange rate: up 7.74% from the start of the year           

□ For domestic and global fixed income, fears of rate-cut delay by the U.S. Federal Reserve pushed interest rates higher; however, global fixed income generated improved returns on the back of a sustained rise in the USD/KRW exchange rate.
*  Korean Treasury (3-year): up 8.5bp from the start of the year

                   U.S. Treasury (10-year): up 40.7bp from the start of the year

  ○ The return on alternative assets for the six-month period, including real estate, private equity, and infrastructure, mostly reflects interest income, dividend income, and foreign exchange gains arising from a strong U.S. dollar; hence, changes in the valuation of investment assets are not reflected. 

   ○ The fair value measurement of alternative assets will be conducted at the year end.

National Pension Fund as of June 30, 2024 (H1 End)