Following tales of woe for the Irish pension fund sector, Hewitt Associates' monthly Fund survey and index has revealed that they returned 2.6 per cent for the month ending 31 March 2009.

The global human resources services company has acknowledged that the positive return will come as a welcome relief to Irish Pension Managed Funds, which have suffered over the last 18 months. This marks the first positive return in the last seven months, although the return of Hewitt Managed Index for the first three months of the year still remains negative at -5.3 per cent.

Betty O'Reilly, senior investment consultant at Hewitt Associates, said: "The positive returns for the past month can be attributed to the rally of global equity markets in the second half of the month. After seven consecutive months of market deterioration, the positive performance for March is long overdue.

"Although it is too early to tell whether the current rally will continue, one would hope that we will not return to the record lows seen by the equity markets in recent times," she added.

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