World’s Biggest Pension Fund Pulls Off an Annual Gain, Despite December Rout
- Overseas stocks were best investment, while Japan shares felll
- Social security ranks as the most important electoral issue
People exercise during a respect for the Aged Day in the Sugamo district of Tokyo.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The world’s biggest pension fund posted a gain for a third consecutive fiscal year as overseas stocks rallied and strength in the dollar versus the yen helped boost the value of its assets abroad.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund returned 1.5%, or 2.4 trillion yen ($22.1 billion), in the year ended March 31, with assets totaling 159.2 trillion yen, it said Friday in Tokyo. Overseas stocks were the fund’s best performing investment, handing it a gain of 3.1 trillion yen, while domestic equities lost 2.1 trillion yen. Its investment income was 698 billion yen for overseas bonds and 596 billion yen for domestic debt.