The world's largest pension fund made record returns in the fiscal year to March, with assets rising to an all-time high.

(Government Pension Investment Fund, GPIF), a Japanese government retirement investment fund, achieved a 25 per cent return in the 12 months to March, with assets up 37.8 trillion yen ($339 billion), its biggest return since it began managing Japan's pension reserves in 2001.

During this period, overseas stocks performed best, with a return of 59.4%, followed by domestic stocks with a return of 41.6%. Invested overseas bonds rose 7.1 per cent, while Japanese bonds fell 0.7 per cent.

Since Masataka Miyazono took the helm of GPIF in April 2020, the pension fund has not posted a quarterly loss. Four consecutive quarters of positive returns have boosted the fund's assets to a record 186.1 trillion yen.

In the fiscal year to March, the MSCI global index rose 52 per cent, while Japan's benchmark East Stock Exchange index rose 39 per cent. The yield on 10-year treasury bonds climbed 107 basis points to 1.74 per cent, while the yield on Japanese government bonds rose about 12 basis points to 0.12 per cent. The dollar has risen nearly 3% against the yen over the same period.