* Plans to increase foreign bonds by Y200 bln in Oct-Mar
* Unhedged foreign bond buying likely larger than hedged buys
* Yen bond holdings will increase by Y400 bln
* May sell yen bonds if yields fall too far
* Eyeing increase in Asian shares, to cut Japan shares a tad (Adds further comment, background)
By Hideyuki Sano and Yoshiyasu Shida
TOKYO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Japan's Meiji Yasuda Life said on Tuesday it plans to increase its holdings of yen bonds by 400 billion yen ($4.9 billion) and will buy a net 200 billion yen of foreign bonds in the six months to March.
The insurer, Japan's third-largest with total assets of 25 trillion yen, will likely buy much of the foreign bonds without currency hedging as it sees limited room for the yen to rise.
"We think the yen is at reasonable levels to start new foreign investments," Yasuharu Takamatsu, Meiji Yasuda's director of investments, told a news conference.
Meiji Yasuda already increased its unhedged foreign bond holdings by 270 billion yen while cutting unhedged foreign bond positions by 120 billion yen in April-September, the company said.
The firm sees the dollar trading between 78 and 90 yen in October-March, and at 87 yen by the end of March.
The dollar hit a 15-year low of 80.88 yen late last week, approaching a record low of 79.75 yen marked in 1995.
Meiji Yasuda expects Japanese authorities to conduct currency market intervention on suitable occasions and believes the Bank of Japan's new easing steps will help limit future gains in the yen.
Earlier this month, the BOJ announced a plan to set up a fund to buy five trillion yen in assets, including government bonds and more risky assets such as exchange traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
The plan is seen as a pre-emptive move to counter the impact of the pressure on the dollar from likely monetary easing by the Federal Reserve early next month.
COMMITTED TO GREENBACK
Meiji Yasuda said its foreign bond portfolio will remain centred on the dollar. According to the company, three quarters of its foreign-denominated assets were in dollars in March.
The insurer also said it will increase its yen bond holdings by 400 billion yen in the second half to March, after boosting them by 1.1 trillion yen in the first half.
The company expects Japanese bond yields to remain stuck at relatively low levels as it thinks the Japanese economy will hit a soft patch and banks will continue to pour cash into domestic bonds.
It expects the 10-year JGB yield to move between 0.7 and 1.2 percent in the second half, and to end the financial year at around 1.0 percent. It hit a seven-year low of 0.82 percent earlier this month.
But should the yield fall too much, the insurer could consider selling some of its yen bond holdings, the company said.
"If the yield keeps falling, that causes us a problem (because of lower income gains.) We will have to keep buying a certain amount of bonds but if we judge bonds are overbought from every perspective, we could sell some of our holdings," Takamatsu said.
Meiji Yasuda also plans to raise its holdings of foreign shares, including those from Asian emerging markets, by 50 billion yen in October-March.
The company cut its Japanese share holdings by 200 billion yen in the half year to September. Many Japanese insurers have been reducing Japanese shares as stock market volatility puts their financial health at risk.
Meiji Yasuda plans to slightly cut its stock holdings, which stood at 2.68 trillion yen as of September, the company said. (Reporting by Hideyuki Sano and Yoshiyasu Shida; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Joseph Radford)