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

The benefits of US regulatory reform

US regulatory reform, such as the SEC’s plan to restore the uptick rule and the Volcker rule to restrict proprietary trading, are a step in the right direction for those advocating transparency. Amanda White explores the story with the chief executive of Principal Global Investors, Jim McCaughan, and head of research, analysis and strategy at

CalPERS considers new asset class classification

CalPERS is considering doing away with traditional asset class classifications in favour of classifying assets according to fundamental characteristics in a bid to provide a better understanding of portfolio risks and performance drivers and so move to a more effective portfolio construction and risk management framework. Amanda White reports. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Risk parity becomes bittersweet flavour of the month (2)

  “Understanding a program’s results involves attributing relative performance to active management, identifying any tactical asset allocation decisions and assessing mechanical factors such as leverage costs. “For most investors implementation of a leveraged strategy would likely require the retention of a beta overlay manager to execute and maintain the desired leveraged systematic exposures or an

Selective opportunities in private markets: Wurts

Private market investors should focus on distressed debt and to a lesser extent secondaries, according to the annual private equity outlook by consultant Wurts Associates, which contrary to other industry observers believes value can be added through top down analysis of the sector. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Strategic implications drive climate change study

The 14 institutional investors participating in the climate change strategic asset allocation study, a collaborative between Mercer, Carbon Trust and the IFC, will all receive individual portfolio scenario analysis of how physical and policy climate change-related events could affect their portfolio at an asset allocation level. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

CalPERS sharpens risk, liability tools

After watching the simultaneous declines of its market value and funded status during the financial crisis, the $204.8 billion CalPERS will conduct a full review of the methodologies underpinning its asset liability management (ALM) process. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Previous