Original title: the world's largest pension fund sits on a record $1.75 trillion in assets
The Japanese government pension investment fund (GPIF) saw investment growth for the fifth consecutive quarter as returns on overseas assets helped make up for losses in Japan's domestic stock market.
The world's largest pension fund announced on Friday that it had risen 2.7% as of June 2021, with assets under management rising by 4.98 trillion yen ($45.4 billion) to a record 191.6 trillion yen. Overseas stocks were its best-performing investment, with a return of 8.6 per cent, while domestic stocks fell 0.3 per cent. Returns on foreign bonds rose 1.9 per cent, while returns on Japanese bonds rose 0.5 per cent.
Overseas equities have been GPIF's best-performing asset since April last year, when the fund began to reduce its reliance on Japanese government bonds and focus on equities and foreign debt.In July, GPIF reported record returns for the fiscal year ended March.
Masataka Miyazono, president of GPIF, said in a statement:
Global stock markets rebounded in the second quarter due to the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine, economic recovery and continued loose monetary policy in major countries. Japan's domestic stock market has fallen because of fears of a resurgence of the virus. "
Morgan StanleyThe capital international global equity index rose 7.3 per cent last quarter, while the yield on 10-year US Treasuries fell 27 basis points to 1.468 per cent, while the yield on Japanese government bonds was virtually unchanged at 0.05 per cent, and the dollar rose 0.4 per cent against the yen this quarter. Since the end of June, the East Stock Exchange Index has fallen 0.7%.
Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager of Tokyo Shinjin Asset Management, said:
Due to the decline in the index, GPIF is likely to buy Japanese stocks in the next quarter. The fundamentals of the Japanese stock market are also good. "