Japanese investors turn to Wall St bonds for higher yields

Tokyo

JAPAN'S yield-hungry individual investors are shopping for bonds on Wall Street as the country's companies sell record amounts of dollar-denominated debt.

SBI Holdings Inc started offering a fund featuring Japanese corporate US currency debt on Tuesday, competing with similar plans from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. The SBI-Pimco Japan Better Income Fund includes Nissan Motor Co notes that yield about 1.2 per cent when fully currency hedged, 10 times that on its comparable yen notes, according to an investor handout.