Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) rose overall in August, delivering each investor an average of HK$4,933, with the year-to-date average gain of HK$25,335, Hong Kong's MPF consulting firm, GUM, said on Thursday.
The GUM MPF Composite Index rose 1.5 percent to 308.7 points in August, the equity fund Index increased by 1.8 percent to 453.5 points, and the mixed asset fund Index rose 1.7 percent to 312.8 points. The fixed income fund index slightly rose by 0.2 percent to 134 points.
GUM’s chief investment officer Christopher Lau, said capital rotation across regions and markets would persist into September, favoring equities over single markets and noting diversified equity funds have an edge in this “rotation market”.
Hong Kong equity fund (index tracking) and Hong Kong equity fund fell 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent respectively, making them the two weakest equity fund categories of the month, as China and Hong Kong tech giants were dragged down by earnings pressure from “high investment and slow payoff," GUM said.
But the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) reminded that such monthly MPF investment performance figures are some generalized short-term figures, which in fact does not have much reference value for scheme members.
MPF is a long-term investment spanning over 40 years, and the future market trend is unpredictable. It is important for scheme members to diversify their MPF investments to mitigate the potential risks, MPFA said.
For those who have no time for or are unfamiliar with managing MPF investment, they may consider choosing the default investment strategy (DIS), commonly called “funds for lazy people," it added.
Frank Feng
