WELLINGTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand national savings scheme KiwiSaver reached almost 39 billion U.S. dollars thanks to high performing stock markets, local media said on Friday.
Figures show that KiwiSaver was worth of 38.98 billion U.S. dollars by Sept. 30. It gained 18 percent in the past year.
Director of manager research Asia-Pacific for Morningstar Tim Murphy said all but one of the KiwiSaver funds in its survey made positive returns in the three months to Sept. 30 after a strong performance in stock markets.
Stock market returns in Australia and New Zealand have been very strong this year; the S&P/NZX50 index has risen 24 percent in the first nine months of the year and the S&P/ASX200 index has gone up 25.6 percent.
The KiwiSaver scheme is a New Zealand savings scheme, which started function in 2007. Participants can access their KiwiSaver funds only after the age of 65, but can also be used to buy a first home as a deposit.
