CIC’s Wang says portfolio took hit from Euro’s fall

According to Market Watch, “a senior official with China’s massive sovereign-wealth fund said Tuesday that while 2009 was good for the nation’s market investments, this year is proving to be tough, according to reports.

In rare public comments, China Investment Corp.’s Executive Vice President Jesse Wang said recent corrections in Western markets had peeled off one-tenth of the fund’s value.

“In May and June, because of the decline of the U.S. market and European market, we had about 10% mark-to-market losses,” Wang was quoted as saying at an event hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

The recent drop compared to gains for 2009, which Wang called “a good year for us,” as CIC managed a return of 11% overall and more than 17% if results from its domestic arm Central Huijin Investment Ltd. are excluded, according to Reuters.

Official 2009 results for CIC, which has approximately $300 billion under management, are slated for release sometime in the next two months.

Wang said that while CIC had hope bonds and other fixed-income holdings would shield it from volatility, this portfolio was hit by the euro’s fall against other major currencies, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Read more: Marketwatch

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