A €2.5bn ($3.4bn) Austrian pension fund avoided recent market falls after using derivatives to cut its equity exposure by a third in June, the month before stocks started to slide. It is considering extending its strategy to its fixed income investments.

APK Pensionskasse started to sell Eurostoxx 50 futures to reduce the exposure of the European portion of its equity portfolio in early June, and later sold S&P500 futures to pare its US exposure, according to chief investment officer Günther Schiendl.