Japan's pension investment fund books 52 bln USD loss in Q2

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) said on Friday it had booked investment losses of 5.23 trillion yen (52 billion U.S. dollars) in the April-June quarter, owing to a drop in global equities and a persistently strong yen.

The quarterly loss, the GPIF said, was also largely attributable to Britain's decision to leave the European Union, as well as a switch from bonds into assets, and compounded by worse-than-expected employment data from the United States posted in May.

"The results of the Britain's (Brexit) vote turned out to be different from what the market expected. And U.S unemployment data in May was much worse than the market expectation," a statement from GPIF President Norihiro Takahashi said, adding that these factors had contributed to the yen's appreciation and a global equities rout.

The government pension fund, the largest of its kind in the world, said that In the April-June quarter it had booked a 3.88-percent negative return on investment, which is the equivalent of 5.2 trillion yen in paper terms. The fund had managed around 130 trillion yen during the quarter it said.

Japanese bonds, which comprise the majority of the fund's assets of around 40 percent, posted a return of 1.91 percent amounting to 938.3 billion yen, with foreign and local stocks and oversees bonds making up the remainder and posting negative returns.

Losses of 2.41 trillion yen came from investment in foreign stocks, and Japanese stocks and foreign bonds carried losses of 2.26 trillion yen and 1.52 trillion yen respectively, the GPIF said. Enditem