Statistics Canada finds that the market value of employer-sponsored pension funds totaled $1.2 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 3.9% from the fourth quarter of 2012.
Pension fund investments in stocks grew 4.5% in the first quarter, surpassing the 3.1% gain in the value of shares on the S&P/TSX Composite Index for the same period.
Investments in real estate assets grew 3.7% while the value of bond holdings edged down 0.2%.
Foreign investments increased in value by 6.9% and the share of pension fund assets held in foreign investments grew to 32.6% of total pension assets.
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Pension fund revenues totaled $36.1 billion in the first quarter, unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2012. Expenditures fell 3.6% to $15.5 billion, increasing net income for a third straight quarter to $20.6 billion.
Slightly more than six million Canadian workers are members of employer pension plans. Of this group, five million workers are members of trusteed plans. The remaining one million members with employer pension plans are managed, principally, by insurance company contracts.
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