Although Danish pension funds some years ago began to diversify towards a greater exposure to equities, their portfolios remained bond-oriented. According to data from Nykredit Markets, the overall allocation of the pensions sector in Denmark at the end of June showed little change from that registered during the previous two quarters. Fixed income investments still accounted for some 60% of total pension assets.
Since June 2001, the Danish pensions sector has diversified its exposure to bond investment vehicles out of Danish kroner and into the euro and US dollar markets. However, during the second quarter of the year, a reversal in this trend became noticeable, with kroner-denominated part of the bond portfolio showing a small rise. Euro bonds still attracted most of the assets, with a total of 22.8% of fixed income investments going to the Euro-zone, the highest proportion since June last year.
Equity investments accounted for 29% of the total pensions portfolio, with money market investment vehicles representing 0.9%.