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KiwiSaver

$6.3 billion wiped off KiwiSaver

Friday 12th of August 2022

Market turmoil during the past six months has wiped $6.3 billion from KiwiSaver funds, $4.6 billion of it in the past three months.

Morningstar’s KiwiSaver survey for the June quarter 2022 reveals KiwiSaver funds now hold $82.2b in assets, compared with $87.3b in the March 2022 quarter and $89b in December last year. However, this year’s June quarter figure is only slightly down from June 2021, when KiwiSaver funds held $83b in assets.

In explaining the downturn, Tim Murphy, Morningstar’s Asia-Pacific director of manager selection, painted a gloomy but by now familiar picture of world markets racked by war, global GDP contraction as the Chinese and Russian economies slow, household spending falling short of expectations in the US and higher-than expected global inflation.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX50 was down 10.2%, with large caps Fletcher Building, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Mainfreight reporting negative quarters. Only Spark showed a positive return (4.8%). The Australian sharemarket also performed badly.

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