18 Dec 2014
USD/JPY ......Earlier, the recent announcement of a major overhaul in Japan's GPIF pushed the Nikkei to a 7-year high of 18030 Dec.
A piece of news from WSJ worth noting. The WSJ reported Japan's $1.1 tln GPIF should be managed by a board of directors rather than a president, as is currently the case, a panel of outside experts has concluded.
At the urging of PM Shinzo Abe, the GPIF has changed its investment philosophy, becoming more sophisticated and aggressive.
It has hired a new chief investment officer, n said in Oct that it would drastically reallocate its conservative portfolio. Mr. Abe has made overhauling the GPIF a key goal as part of his efforts to putting Japan back on a path to long-term growth. Now the task is to revamp its management structure.
The panel held its sixth n final meeting Wed, but despite 12 hours of debate in the past couple of months remained divided on issues such as whether the chief executive officer should sit on the board.
Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the group has differed on some issues.
Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki, an Abe appointee n a staunch advocate of an aggressive overhaul of the fund's management, pushed hard for the group to be formed, n some of its members have expressed views similar to his.
But bureaucrats at the health ministry, which oversees the GPIF, argued that the group should include more cautious voices. The group will present its ideas to the health ministry panel for further discussion, n eventually the ministry will draft a law to submit to parliament.
This morning the greenback rallied against the Japanese yen on Wednesday after the widely expected comments fm Fed's Chair Janet Yellen who altered a pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" but signalled it was on track to raise interest rates next year.
However, the Fed's statement showed it was unlikely to hike rates for "at least a couple of meetings," meaning April of next year at the earliest.
U.S. dollar rose to 118.90 near New York close n then extended the rally to 119.01 in Tokyo morning due to the more than 400 points or 2% rise in Nikkei-225 index, however, profit-taking at 119.00 level capped dlr's upside somewhat n price retreated briefly to around 118.57.
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