The Government Pension Investment Fund said Thursday it posted a record-high surplus of 8.68 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 due to investing in stocks and bonds.

Reflecting a strong domestic stock market and the yen's weakness in the fiscal year to last March, the result represented the third consecutive yearly surplus and a nearly four-fold increase from a surplus of 2.24 trillion yen reported in fiscal 2004.

The fund invested some 72.2 trillion yen in stocks and bonds in and outside Japan in fiscal 2005, and returns rose to an all-time high of 14.37 percent, the fund said.

Domestic shares accounted for 26 percent of the investment, foreign shares for 15 percent, domestic bonds for 48 percent and foreign bonds for 10 percent.

The fund's Japanese equity investment outperformed the market by more than 2 percentage points in fiscal 2005 after losses of 1 trillion yen to 3 trillion yen were registered in fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002, respectively.

The fund said the cumulative surplus came to 8.47 trillion yen at the end of fiscal 2005, sharply up from the fiscal 2004 figure, when cumulative losses were wiped out for the first time.

The fund will deposit 1.96 trillion yen this fiscal year into the national coffers to help finance payments of pension benefits.

The fund's total investment profit will amount to some 9.83 trillion yen when interest income of 1.15 trillion yen, which is estimated to accrue on its money deposited as funds under the government's fiscal and loan program, is included.