World’s Biggest Pension Fund Adds $39 Billion as Stocks Rise
The world’s biggest pension fund posted its fifth-straight quarterly gain, the longest run in more than two years, as global stocks advanced to new highs and weakness in the yen helped boost the value of overseas investments.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund returned 3 percent, or 4.5 trillion yen ($39 billion), in the three months ended Sept. 30, increasing assets to a record 156.8 trillion yen, it said in Tokyo on Thursday. Domestic equities added 1.8 trillion yen as the value of foreign equities increased by 2 trillion yen, particularly boosted by the euro’s strength.
Prospects for higher corporate earnings have driven the Topix index to levels unseen in more than a decade, while U.S. stock benchmarks climbed to records on confidence the world’s largest economy will sustain its growth. GPIF’s string of gains follows a series of losses after it overhauled its strategy in 2014 to buy more shares and cut debt.
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