Korea’s national pension fund saw its investment yield tumble last year as the eurozone debt crisis and the global economic downturn increased market instability, it operator said Monday.

The National Pension Service, the country’s largest stock investor, said it earned around 7.67 trillion won ($6.8 billion) last year, or a 2.31 percent investment return. That compares with a 10.39 percent return in 2010 and a 10.41 yield in 2009.

The NPS said the detailed figures on its portfolio investment will be finalized later.

The world’s fourth-largest pension fund suffered a 9.46 percent loss in its stock investment last year, with its return from bond and alternative investment reaching 5.73 percent and 10.22 percent, respectively.

The NPS’s return from investment in the local stock market reached minus 10.34 percent last year, compared with the market’s yield of 11 percent, according to the NPS.

The NPS had an estimated 350 trillion won worth of assets under its management at the end of December, up 7.7 percent or 24.88 trillion won from a year ago. (Yonhap News)