Japan pension 'whale' GPIF suffers longest losing streak since 2009

TOKYO, Nov 05 (Nikkei) - Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest institutional investors, posted its third consecutive quarterly loss Friday to mark its longest slump since the global financial crisis.

The GPIF reported an investment loss of 1.72 trillion yen ($11.6 billion) for the second financial quarter ended September, finishing with about 193 trillion yen in assets under management.

Bondholdings lost value as the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes drove up yields, while stock markets sold off on fears of a global recession.

For GPIF, every asset class suffered negative returns in the July-September period. Holdings of foreign bonds lost 764.4 billion yen, while domestic bonds lost 398.2 billion yen. The fund's Japanese stocks slid 367.9 billion yen, while foreign equities sank 191.6 billion yen.

The fund's portfolio lost 0.88% in value during the quarter. Its last three-quarter losing streak ended in January-March 2009.

GPIF, which had reported investment gains topping 10 trillion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, is known in markets as a "whale" for its massive size. It has four allocation targets of 25% each for domestic and foreign bonds as well as domestic and foreign equities. ...continue reading

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