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REPEAT: MNI: Nippon Life: Buy More Unhedged Oseas Bonds, JGB

MNI (London)
Repeats Story Initially Transmitted at 06:00 GMT Oct 24/02:00 EST Oct 24
--Nippon Life: To Buy Unhedged Foreign Bonds Several Hundred Bln Yen
--Nippon Life: To Actively Buy 20-, 30-Yr JGBs If Yld 1% or Higher
     TOKYO (MNI) - Nippon Life Insurance will raise its holdings of unhedged
foreign bonds by several hundred billion yen in the second half of the current
fiscal year, after increasing its holdings by Y260 billion in the
April-September period, the company's chief fund manager said Wednesday.
     The company will increase its holdings of domestic bonds, mainly super-long
Japanese government bonds, if yields rise, after increasing its overall domestic
bond holdings by Y1.07 trillion in the first half of the fiscal year, Naoki
Akiyama, general manager of the Finance and Investment Planning Department at
Nippon Life Insurance Company, told reporters.
     Investment in JGBs accounted for about 70% of the domestic bond investment
during the April-September period.
     Akiyama said that the balance of hedged foreign bond holdings would be flat
or slightly lower for the second half of this fiscal year, after decreasing the
balance by Y210 billion for the first half of the fiscal year.
     --FLEXIBLE FOREIGN BONDS
     Akiyama said that the leading life insurer remains cautious about buying
hedged foreign bonds, as hedging costs will continue to rise in the U.S. as the
Federal Reserve continues to tighten.
     However, Akiyama said the company will increase their investments in hedged
corporate bonds, while selling U.S. Treasuries.
     "We will change asset allocations to unhedged and hedged foreign bonds in a
flexible manner, depending on developments of foreign exchange rates and
interest rates," Akiyama said.
     Nippon Life expects new assets from insurance premiums to rise about Y600
billion in the October-March period, with the pace of increase decelerating from
about Y790 billion in the first half of the fiscal year, Akiyama said.
     "About several hundreds billion yen of the new money is likely to go to
unhedged foreign bonds, including corporate bonds," Akiyama said.
     At the end of September, the balance of hedged foreign bonds held by Nippon
Life stood at Y9.83 trillion, or 15% of its total assets, and the balance of
unhedged foreign bonds at Y4.88 trillion, or 7% of the total.
     Of overall foreign bond holdings of Y14.71 trillion, about 60% were held in
U.S. dollar, nearly 30% in euro, nearly 10% in sterling and the remaining amount
in other currencies.
     --1% JGB THRESHOLD
     "Current JGB yields aren't high enough to buy bonds. But if the yields on
20- and 30-year bonds rose to 1% or higher, we will actively buy those bonds,"
Akiyama said.
     As of October 24, the benchmark 20-year JGB was trading at 0.67%, with the
30-year at 0.90% -- just shy of the 0.925% high seen recently.
     The balance of domestic bonds held by Nippon Life totaled Y28.12 trillion,
or 43% of its total assets.
     Nippon Life has traditionally invested about 70% of its total assets in
lower-risk instruments -- mainly yen-denominated securities and hedged foreign
bonds -- and about 30% in higher-risk assets such as domestic stocks, unhedged
foreign currency assets and real estate.
     The total assets held by Nippon Life at the end of March 2019 are estimated
at Y65.38 trillion, up from Y64.59 trillion at the end of March 2018.
     Nippon Life expects the 10-year JGB yield to move between -0.2% and +0.2%
-- currently the Bank of Japan's target range -- and the U.S. 10-year Treasury
bond yield in a range of 2.7% and 3.7% through the end of March 2019.
     It forecasts the dollar will trade in a range of Y104 to Y124 and the euro
will between Y125 and Y145 on March 31 2019.
--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
MNI London Bureau | +44 203-865-3812 | les.commons@marketnews.com
MNI London Bureau | +44 203-865-3812 | les.commons@marketnews.com

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