TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reported on Friday a record quarterly investment return of 18.98 trillion yen ($133.2 billion), driven by the strong performance of global stocks and a weaker yen that inflated overseas returns.
The world’s largest pension fund gained 9.49% over the three months through June, boosting its overall assets to 219.17 trillion yen.
The 9.49% return is a level that appears only once in nine years according to a probability model, GPIF President Masataka Miyazono said in a statement.
This is just a short-term result and GPIF will continue to manage assets from long-term perspectives, he said.
The gain widened from 5.41% in the previous quarter.
The fund is closely watched by global financial markets because of its mammoth size.
During the April-June period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock average jumped 18.4%.
The GPIF’s foreign stock portfolio posted a quarterly increase of 15.43%, while its Japanese stock portfolio gained 14.37%.
Its Japanese bond portfolio posted a rise of 0.36%, while its foreign bond portfolio gained 8.08%.
($1 = 142.5400 yen)
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
