TOKYO -- Japan's massive government pension fund and central bank apparently have become the biggest shareholders in well over 400 companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section -- nearly one-quarter of all issues. Concern has heightened that though the active buying buoys stock prices, it may be undermining market mechanisms.
The Government Pension Investment Fund is the largest such fund in the world, managing 130 trillion yen ($1.27 trillion) in assets. In 2014, GPIF raised its target weighting of Japanese equities to 25% from 12%. And the Bank of Japan decided in late July to nearly double its annual purchases of exchange-traded funds to 6 trillion yen, as part of monetary easing.
