SEOUL-- South Korea's state pension fund posted a return rate of 8 percent in the first nine months of the year, aided by healthy gains from investment in local and foreign stocks, the fund's operator said Monday.

The National Pension Service said it has scooped up 67.4 trillion won(US$56.5 billion) in returns from the fund's operation in the January-September period.

Of the returns, 67.3 trillion won came from investment in stocks, bonds and alternative assets, according to the NPS.

In particular, the fund registered a 22.66 percent return from investment in overseas stocks, almost three times the 8.23 percent gain from investment in local stocks.

Last year, the fund logged a 9.7 percent return, marking the second highest over the past 10 years, after a return rate of 11.3 percent logged in 2019.

The NPS is one of the world's leading pension funds, with more than 918.7 trillion won worth of assets under its management as of end-September, up 85 trillion won from the end of last year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency