Japan public pension fund reports 683 bln yen loss in July-September period

TOKYO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) on Thursday reported an investment loss of 683.2 billion yen (4.54 billion U.S. dollars) in the July-September period.

The loss marked the GPIF's first negative return in three quarters, reflecting a fall in domestic bond prices amid higher interest rates.

The fund, closely watched by global financial markets because of its mammoth size, lost 1,522.8 billion yen on investments in Japanese bonds, 403.7 billion yen on foreign bonds and 91.1 billion yen on foreign stocks.

Meanwhile, the GPIF earned 1,334.4 billion yen on Japanese stocks as the TOPIX index for Japanese equities rose slightly.

The loss came after the massive fund logged a record quarterly investment return of 18.98 trillion yen in the previous quarter ending in June. (1 Japanese yen equals 0.0067 U.S. dollars)