Japan Government Pension Fund To Buy More Stocks: Report

Japan's massive Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is working on plans to raise the amount of its assets invested in domestic stocks to about 25%, the Nikkei reported Saturday. Current investment guidelines for the GPIF -- said to be the world's largest public pension fund -- call for an allocation of 6%-18% for Japanese stocks, with the weighting at 17% as of the end of June, the report said. "The new standard will likely be about 25%, putting the upper limit at around 30%," while the allocation for government bonds will fall to around 40% from 60% currently, the report said. Japanese stocks rallied sharply Monday morning, also helped by a drop in the yen and a strong cue from the U.S., where shares saw strong gains Friday. Late in the morning session, the Nikkei Average was up 3.3%.