The Canada Pension Plan’s investments earned $3.9 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, a return of 5.2% for the quarter.

The CPP Investment Board said Friday that equities and real return assets, which make up 56.7% of the CPP reserve fund, earned $3 billion in the third quarter for a return of 7.4%. The equities and real return assets are made up of 52.4% publicly traded stocks, 3.2% private equities, 1% real estate and 0.1% “infrastructure.”

Nominal fixed income, composed 37.1% of federal and provincial government bonds and 6.2% in cash and money market securities, earned $890 million for a return of 2.6%, the board said. Nominal fixed income represents 43.3% of the total CPP portfolio.

For the nine months ended Dec. 31, assets in the CPP reserve fund earned $4.6 billion, producing a fiscal year-to-date rate of return of 6.2%. The board’s fiscal year ends March 31.

In fiscal 2004, a rebound in global stock markets helped the Canada Pension Plan gain $10.3 billion, a 17.6% return. It was the best yearly performance since the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was created in 1999 and a reversal from a loss of $1.1 billion or 1.5% in fiscal 2003.

At the end of the recently-completed third quarter, the $77.2 billion CPP reserve fund was composed of $43.8 billion in publicly traded equities, private equities, real estate and infrastructure, and $33.4 billion in nominal fixed-income securities.

The CPP reserve fund grew to $77.2 billion from $75.2 billion the previous third quarter, the board said.