Japan's mammoth GPIF pension fund posts $16 billion loss in Q4 on stock slides

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) reported on Friday an investment loss of 2.2 trillion yen ($16.33 billion) in January-March as higher U.S. interest rates and the war in Ukraine rattled the global financial markets.

The world's largest pension fund posted a negative return of 1.1% on its overall assets during the three months, compared with a 2.81% gain in the previous quarter, it said in a statement.

The fund, which managed 196.6 trillion yen of assets as of end-March, is closely watched by global financial markets because of its mammoth size.

For the year ended in March, GPIF had a return of 10.09 trillion yen, or a 5.42% gain.

($1 = 134.9400 yen)

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; editing by David Dolan)