CPF members who invested their money in funds included under the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS) received average returns of 3.4 per cent in the three months ended June 30.

Unit trusts grew 3.26 per cent, while investment-linked insurance products (ILPs) rose 3.47 per cent, according to fund research firm Thomson Reuters Lipper yesterday.

Equity funds posted positive returns of 4.14 per cent, mixed-asset 2.99 per cent, bonds 1.18 per cent and money market funds 0.15 per cent.

By comparison, in the same period, one widely cited measure of Asian equities, the MSCI AC Asia ex-Japan index, rallied 6.81 per cent, while a measure of bond returns, the Citigroup WGBI TR index (World Government Bond Index) was up just 1.39 per cent. Bonds are regarded as a low-risk, conservative form of investment.

CPFIS-linked funds performed better when measured over the longer term.

The overall performance of these funds surged 17.22 per cent on average in the 12 months ended June 30. Unit trusts soared 19.21 per cent on the year and ILPs rallied 16.01 per cent.

Mr Xav Feng, head of Asia-Pacific research at Thomson Reuters Lipper, advised investors to watch out for higher volatility resulting from global geopolitical tensions.