The third-largest pension scheme in the US has recorded its highest annual gains in six years, buoyed by the impressive performance of its equities investments and the fact that only one asset class lost it money over the year to March 31.

The $133bn (€109bn) New York State Common Retirement Fund made 26% on its investments in the 12-months to the end of March, a period in which confidence in global stock markets returned and investors began to look again at deploying large amounts of money to equities.