Japan Post Insurance (TYO:7181) plans to sell its lower-yielding government bonds and reinvest the proceeds into higher-yielding debt, anticipating further interest rate hikes from the Bank of Japan as early as April, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing President and Chief Executive Officer Kunio Tanigaki.

Tanigaki emphasized the importance of adjusting their portfolio to benefit from rising rates, noting that market yields are expected to continue increasing, the news wire said.

As one of Japan's largest insurers with approximately 50.4 trillion yen in securities holdings, the firm saw its valuation losses on domestic bonds widen by about 30% to 4.39 trillion yen last quarter as Japanese yields jumped, the report added.

Despite recent Middle East tensions reducing expectations for a March rate hike, swap markets still indicate roughly 65% probability of a BOJ move by April and full certainty by July, the publication said.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)