Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reported an investment income of 10.2 trillion yen (US$69 billion) for the first quarter of its current financial year, up 13.7% from 8.97 trillion yen in the same period last year on the back of strong equity gains.
The return in April through June rose to 4.09% from 3.65% a year ago, the world’s largest pension fund says in a quarterly investment report on August 1.
Its financial year runs from April 1 to March 31.
The pension giant didn’t provide any analysis but the figures show that equities, which make up half of its assets, were the driving force for the gains.
Japan’s stock market has rebounded since March, when it was pressured by a rising yen and concerns over US tariffs. With trade tensions easing, investors are now buying back oversold stocks, fuelling the recent recovery.
The GPIF’s investments in domestic and foreign equities returned 7.48% and 7.44%, respectively. Japanese stocks account for 24.28% of its assets and foreign equities, 25.22%.
Meanwhile, the pension giant gained 1.56% from foreign bond investments and lost 0.19% on Japanese bonds.
Its total assets climbed 2.1% to around 260 trillion yen as of end-June from 254.7 trillion yen a year ago.
