The overall performance of funds included in the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS) showed a 1.45 per cent decrease in the second quarter, according to data released on Thursday.

The value of unit trusts declined 1.2 per cent, while that of investment-linked insurance products slid 1.63 per cent.

This is the first fall in four quarters, and was largely due to concerns over the United States Federal Reserve tapering its quantitative easing programme, said Lipper's head of Asia-Pacific research Xav Feng.

Lipper, a fund research firm, has been appointed by the Investment Management Association of Singapore and Life Insurance Association of Singapore to monitor the performance of all unit trusts and investment-linked insurance products included under the CPFIS.

It said yesterday that equity funds under the scheme recorded a negative return of 1.29 per cent in the second quarter, while the CPFIS-included bond funds dropped by 2.15 per cent.