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

CalPERS urged to pull back commodities risk

CalPERS’ internal commodities team should enforce a tracking error limit for the portfolio it manages, and prepare to boost headcount and resources as investment opportunities evolve and funds under management grow, the fund’s primary asset consultant, Wilshire Associates, found in a review. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Corporate US plans expect too much

US corporate defined-benefit plans are still severely underfunded, with an artificially high return expectation contributing to the situation, according to a report of the funding status of 308 US corporate defined benefit plans by Wilshire Consulting. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Global instos collaborate on measuring water risks

Norges Bank Investment Management is leading a consortium of more than 130 institutions globally in a disclosure project aimed at providing investors with a comprehensive assessment of the water risks of the companies they invest in. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Wilshire survives and retains CalPERS consulting tender

Wilshire Associates has survived another competitive tender, trumping RogersCasey in the interview scoring process to retain the position of CalPERS’ lead general investment consultant, a position it has held since 1983. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Pension funds unite: you can double returns

Paul Woolley insists that he is pro market forces; he is not some sort of Trotskyite. A cursory glance at some of the research work he is either doing or financing might prompt scepticism. But this urbane Londoner who established the top-shelf GMO quant shop in Europe is mainly concerned about inefficiencies and mispricing. And

What investors really want

While the models of expected returns are evolving, they still do not recognise the role of expressive and emotional characteristics. In this guest editorial in the Financial Analysts Journal, Meir Statman, Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University, California, proposes including characteristics such as affect, social responsibility, status and patriotism in models of

Previous