* To boost investment in H2 by 400 billion yen
* Most of increase to be in yen fixed-rate assets
* May also raise hedged, unhedged foreign bond holdings
By Shinichi Saoshiro and Takeshi Yoshiike
TOKYO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Japan's Nippon Life Insurance Co said it plans to place most of its new investment for the second half of the fiscal year until March 2011 in yen fixed-rate assets due to the slow pace of economic recovery.
The country's largest life insurer by assets managed a total of 47.1 trillion yen ($580 billion) -- roughly the size of Indonesia's economy -- on behalf of its policy holders at the end of September 2010. Around 72 percent of that was in yen fixed-rate assets.
The company plans to increase its assets by 400 billion yen in the second half, centred on yen fixed-rate assets that include Japanese government bonds (JGBs) and hedged foreign debt.
"Economic recovery across countries remains subdued and we will keep yen fixed-rate assets, which offer stable returns, as our core investments," Yosuke Matsunaga, general manager of the firm's finance and investment planning department, told reporters on Wednesday.
It classifies currency hedged foreign bonds as yen fixed-rate assets as they are protected from foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
The insurer said much of the increase in yen fixed-rate assets will be in superlong JGBs and corporate bonds. It said it could increase its hedged foreign bond holdings depending on exchange rates.
The firm said it boosted its hedged foreign bond holdings by 900 billion yen to 5 trillion yen in the first half through to September.
It said it would also either keep its unhedged foreign bond holdings steady in the second half or increase them if conditions were favourable.
"We may buy more unhedged foreign bonds in the second half if foreign exchange levels make these assets relatively cheap," Matsunaga said in comments that were embargoed until Thursday.
TAKING ADVANTAGE
Taking advantage of the yen's appreciation, the insurer lifted its unhedged foreign bond holdings by 380 billion yen to 2.59 trillion yen in the first half.
Nippon Life expects the dollar to move between 75 yen and 95 yen and the euro between 100 yen and 120 yen through March 2011.
On Thursday the dollar was at 81.12 yen after hitting a 15-year low of 80.84 yen this week. The euro stood at 112.95 yen after marking a nine-year low below 106 yen in August.
The insurer said it expects the benchmark 10-year JGB yield to range between 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent through March 2011.
The 10-year JGB yielded 0.880 percent after hitting a seven-year trough of 0.820 percent earlier this month.
Nippon Life sees Japan's Nikkei stock average, which closed at 9,376 on Thursday, moving between 9,000 and 13,000 in the second half.
"We have to take a cautious stance towards equities given uncertain prospects towards the economy. We plan to keep our foreign and domestic stock holdings unchanged for the second half," Matsunaga said.
As of the end of September, Nippon Life held 5.9 trillion yen in domestic stocks and 860 billion yen in foreign stocks. (Editing by Joseph Radford) (shinichi.saoshiro@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: shinichi.saoshiro.reuters.com@reuters.net; +81-3-6441-1774))