BOSTON, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in March inched up 0.5 percentage points to 88.5 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Although the gain in March was small, this was the seventh straight month of improvement, according to the BNY Mellon Pension Summary Report for March 2011. So far this year, the funding ratio for the typical corporate plan has improved 4.2 percentage points.

Assets for the typical corporate pension plan were unchanged in March, as the 0.5 percent increase in U.S. equity markets was offset by a 2.2 percent decline in international developed markets, according to the report. Liabilities decreased 0.5 percent during the month as the Aa corporate discount rate increased from 5.54 percent to 5.61 percent, the report noted.