MNI: Japan Pension Giant Seen Upping Foreign Bond Buys: Press

     TOKYO (MNI) - Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) will

consider increasing its investment in foreign bonds while reducing its

investment in domestic bonds, the Nikkei reported Thursday.

     The newspaper said that the GPIF, seen as one of the world's largest

investors holding around JPY160 trillion in pension fund assets, will likely 

review its portfolio as early as March.

     If the GPIF increased the weighting in foreign bonds, it would contribute

to restricting the yen's rise.

     The GPIF currently targets weights of 35% for Japanese bonds, 15% for

foreign bonds, 25% for domestic stocks and 25% for foreign stocks.

     GPIF President Norihiro Takahashi said in July 2019 that reinvesting funds

from matured Japanese bonds is not an easy task, the newspaper said.

     But an official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said, "Putting

a majority of holdings into risk assets is not a realistic scenario" for the

GPIF.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-2175-0040; email: hiroshi.inoue@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$A$$$,M$J$$$,M$$FI$,MN$FI$]