A rise in borrowing costs has wiped off more than £545bn from the value of defined benefit private sector pensions in nine months.

The market value of private sector defined benefit and hybrid pensions plunged from £1.8 trillion in December 2021 to just under £1.3 trillion at the end of September 2022 – a drop of 30pc, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the protests across China over the country’s strict zero-Covid policies rattled global markets as concerns grew over the effect of possible unrest on the world’s second-largest economy and the leading manufacturing hub.