Central bankers are planning on continuing to boost equity exposure via exchange traded funds. The Bank of Japan, among many others, plans to double exposure to stock ETFs over the course of the year, as falling bond yields disappoint.
Central bankers around the world have been putting direct investments into equity markets. This accounts for about $11 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, reports ETF Guide. A survey taken last month of 60 central bankers revealed that about 23% of them expect to raise their level of stock exposure, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. [Global Equity ETF Technical Outlook]
For example, The Bank of Japan, second-largest holder of reserves, plans on doubling investment into the iShares MSCI Japan ETF NYSEArca: EWJ to 3.5 trillion yen, equal to $35.2 billion, by 2014. In addition to the exchange traded fund purchase, the BOJ will also buy Japan real estate investment trusts J-REITs so that their amounts outstanding will increase at an annual pace of about 1 trillion yen and about 30 billion yen respectively. [Japan ETF Rally Still Alive as Yen Weakens]