Japan fund reduces domestic bond weighting

The world’s largest investor, the ¥117,643 billion ($1.43 trillion) Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF) has reduced its weighting to domestic bonds by more than 1 per cent, moving the money into short term assets.

At the end of September, the second quarter of the fund’s fiscal year, it still had a whopping 70 per cent invested in domestic bonds, but this was down from 71.1 per cent the quarter previous.

The domestic bond allocation has been as high as 72 per cent, but at the end of fiscal 2009 was a relatively low 67.54 per cent.

The allocation to international bonds (8.16 per cent) and international stocks (9.74 per cent) were also up slightly for the September 2010 quarter.

The fund returned 1.53 per cent for the second quarter, a vast improvement on its first quarter loss of -2.94 per cent.

Most of the fund’s assets are managed passively, and last financial year (ending March 31, it reduced its weighting to actively managed international equities, widening the number of service providers at the same time.

Sponsored Content

Overall the fund employs more than 80 funds managers.

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

Chinese whisper over CIC turf wars

The $300 billion China Investment Corporation (CIC) aims to sidestep official barriers to investing in the US by offloading its stakes in home-country banks. The proposal would see the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) relinquish responsibility for the Chinese government’s majority stakes in the country’s largest banks, such as Bank of China, the Financial Times reported.

Companies face up to investors on say-on-pay

Proxy advisory firms have substantial influence on executive pay decision-making processes in US companies, however they have had little impact on the design of executive compensation programs, according to about half the respondents in a Towers Watson survey. The Towers Watson”Executive Say-on-Pay Flash Survey”, conducted in June surveyed 251 US public and private corporations representing

MSCI index launches ESG into mainstream

Following its merger with RiskMetrics, global index provider MSCI will launch a series of indexes and risk products incorporating ESG for the first time, and in doing so will propel ESG factors into the mainstream. Amanda White spoke to managing director, global head of index and applied research at MSCI, Remy Briand. With more than

CalSTRS to get nimble for risk…

CalSTRS will explore the potential of risk-oriented strategic allocation management and wider asset class ranges, as it sets out its investment business plan for 2010-11, which also includes collaborating with UC Regents and CIC about improvements to Barra One – its risk management system – and potentially further insourcing. Each fiscal year CalSTRS sets out

CalSTRS team rejig makes way for new deputy CIO

The $130 billion Californian fund, CalSTRS, will hire a deputy chief investment officer who will oversee the new absolute-return asset class, investment operations and a majority of the day-to-day investment branch management. This brand new position will allow the chief investment officer, Chris Ailman, to focus more on portfolio management and asset allocation. All existing

Russell takes up fundamental index for alternative beta series

Alternative beta is catching on, with Russell Investments the latest market index builder to embrace the non-cap-weighted index trend by inking a deal with Rob Arnott’s Research Affiliates company. Russell will launch a series of “fundamental” indices, in association with Research Affiliates, during the third quarter of this year. Fundamental indices rank stocks according to

Previous