U.S. corporate pension funds saw funding ratios rise slightly in November, thanks to very strong market returns offsetting a significant rise in liability values, three new reports say.

Wilshire Advisors estimated the aggregate funding ratio of U.S. corporate plans reached 105.4% as of Nov. 30, up from 105.1% a month earlier.

The change was driven by a 7.8 percentage-point increase in asset values offsetting a 7.4 percentage-point increase in liability values. The two increases rounded to a funding hike of 0.3 percentage points, Wilshire said.

“November’s increase in funded status was driven by the decrease in Treasury yields and corporate bond spreads, marking the largest monthly increase in liability value since December 2012, when Wilshire began monthly reporting of funded ratio estimates. Corporate bond yields, used to value corporate pension liabilities, are estimated to have decreased by nearly 70 basis points this month,” said Ned McGuire, managing director at Wilshire, in a Dec. 5 news release.

“With several asset classes achieving their best monthly performances in over a decade, notably core fixed having its best monthly performance since 1985, the aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have slightly increased despite the largest monthly increase in liability value in more than 10 years,” said McGuire.

Wilshire’s assumed asset allocation is 31% long-duration fixed income, 28% core fixed income, 25% domestic equity, 14% international equity and 2% real estate.

Legal & General Investment Management America estimated the average funding ratio of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan rose to 103.4% as of Nov. 30 from 102.2% as of Oct. 31.

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