Victorian Funds Management Corporation, the fund for the state’s public authorities, increased its funds under management by $1.8 billion to $36.8 billion in the three months to March 31 after its stock, infrastructure and bond investments all performed well.

The Melbourne-based fund said in a statement that half its assets are invested in shares in Australia and abroad.  Such investments performed better than benchmark measurements.

VFMC’s Australian equities portfolio rose 9.9 per cent compared with a benchmark of 8.6 per cent in the first quarter this year. The fund’s international stocks portfolio gained 12 per cent during the same period, again exceeding the benchmark.

Investments in infrastructure and diversified fixed interest rose 2.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent in the first quarter respectively.

“Following the recent rally in equity and risk markets, we feel that global equity markets have priced close to trend growth in the US, a moderate recession in Europe and slower but reasonable growth in China,” VFMC says in a statement.