The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) recorded an investment income of RM5.55 billion for the first quarter of this year amid firmer market conditions.

The earnings, a 70.3 percent increase over the RM3.26 billion posted in the corresponding quarter of last year, were made on the back of a recovering global economy, its chief executive officer, Azlan Zainol said in a statement today.

"Significant improvement in the year-on-year investment performance was a reflection of a more buoyant and favourable economic environment as Malaysia steered into making a full recovery from the global economic and financial crisis.

"However, while market conditions have improved compared to a year ago, the environment nevertheless remains volatile and we are cautious as the recovery of economies around the world is expected to take place at an uneven rate.

"This to a certain extent has had some impact on the overall performance of EPF's investment returns in Q1 this year," he said.

Azlan added that investment income for the quarter was led significantly by equities that contributed RM2.79 billion.

"Improved performance in equities was mainly driven by the rise of share prices coupled with higher trade volume spurred by encouraging domestic growth, which led to opportunities for EPF's equity managers to lock in profit," he said.

- Bernama