By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE Retirement Fund’s investments in the U.S. and international stock markets took a beating after last week’s record worldwide selloff which some business analysts described as a “mini-crash.”
“We took a hit,” said Fund Administrator Mark Aguon in a phone interview on Thursday.
But he said there is no information yet how much money the Retirement Fund lost during the global stock market plunge triggered by a correction in Chinese stocks.
“It could be a lot,” said Aguon but he added that the negative impact may be less because Fund’s investments are diversified worldwide.
The Fund’s investment portfolio was valued at more than $470 million as of Dec. 2006.
The mony is invested in stock markets in the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong, India, South Korea and Brazil.
Aguon said the Fund has no investments in developing markets like China because of the perceived risks associated with them.
“The market is up and down. We have to make sure that we are fully diversified,” he said.
According to the Retirement Fund’s 2005 financial report prepared by J. Scott Magliari & Co., much of the local pension system’s assets were invested in U.S. large cap equities at 51 percent which as of end-Sept. 2005 were valued at more than $221 million; 13 percent was in U.S. small cap equities; and 14 percent or more than $60 million was invested in international stock markets.
The Retirement Fund’s assets should be valued at $1 billion by Oct. 1, 2045 so it can become self-sustaining and able to pay off the future pensions of government retirees.
According to Reuters, U.S. policy-makers stepped in to assure nervous investors on Friday that the nation’s economy was not heading into recession.
The global selloff was triggered by a 9 percent drop in the Shanghai bourse on Tuesday, prompted by fears authorities would crack down on speculation.