Japan’s pension fund posts best returns in three years
The world’s biggest pension fund posted its best annual gain in three years despite a loss during the final quarter of its business calendar.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund returned 6.9 per cent, or 10.1 trillion yen ($91 billion), in the year ended March 31, with assets totaling 156.4 trillion yen, it said in Tokyo. Domestic stocks were the fund’s best performing investment, adding 5.5 trillion yen, followed by a 3.5 trillion yen increase in overseas shares. Domestic bonds gained 362bn yen, while overseas debt rose 674bn yen.
Six quarters of gains boosted assets to a record at the end of 2017. The GPIF incurred losses during the first three months of this year as investor sentiment turned from optimism over US tax cuts to fears of a trade war. A global equity rout and plunge in the US Treasuries in its final fiscal quarter kept the fund from beating a record 12 per cent annual gain set three years ago.
Read More: The National
