Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reported on Friday an investment loss of $16 billion in January-March, the first quarterly negative return in two years, as higher U.S. interest rates and the war in Ukraine rattled financial markets.

The world's largest pension fund's 1.1 per cent negative return on its overall assets during the three months compares with a 2.81 per cent gain in the previous quarter, it said in a statement.

The fund wrote down the value of its Russia-related assets to zero due to sanctions and difficulties in completing transactions. As of March last year, it held Russian assets worth about 220 billion yen ($1.6 billion), representing 0.1 per cent of the total assets.

During the quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 5 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 3 per cent. The GPIF's foreign stock portfolio posted a loss of 0.55 per cent, while its Japanese stock portfolio had a loss of 1.22 per cent.

Its foreign and Japanese bond portfolios posted losses of 1.22 per cent and 1.54 per cent respectively. ...continue reading