NZ Earthquake fund suffers equity losses

The New Zealand Earthquake Commission, which provides insurance for earthquake and natural disaster damage, has lost NZ$104 mn (US$50.2mn) investing in world markets between November last year and June this year. The Commission was given permission by the government to invest funds as part of a plan to boost its Natural Disaster Fund. It placed NZ$624.5mn in global equities but by June this year the value of the fund had shrunk to $520.6 mn, a drop of 16%. The fund planned to invest NZ$1bn in overseas shares in two years. Because of the losses the Commission has cut its monthly investment in overseas shares from NZ$75mn a month to NZ$50mn a month.