The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds was $1.78 trillion in the second quarter (Q2), Statistics Canada announced on Wednesday.
This was down 1.0% compared with the previous quarter, but up 7.5% from Q2 2016.
Pension fund investments held in stocks decreased 4.6% to $501.3 billion, while investments in bonds remained relatively stable, up 0.5% to $589.0 billion.
Pension fund revenues also declined by about 1.0% in Q2, StatsCan says. Profits from securities sales fell by 21.9% in Q2 compared with Q1, but investment income rose by 20.0% to $14.4 billion, it says.
Expenditures by pension funds increased during Q2, including pension payments, which increased by 4.8%.
The decrease in revenues, coupled with the increase in spending, resulted in net income dropping to $17.4 billion in Q2 from $27.2 billion in Q1, StatsCan says.