Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Total Return Fund cut its holdings of emerging-market debt to the lowest level in almost two years in April.
Emerging bonds fell to 9.4 percent of assets, the smallest proportion since August 2014, based on data from the PIMCO website. The figure has dropped from as much as 28.9 percent in August 2015. Government holdings, which include Treasuries as well as related securities such as futures contracts or agency bonds, were little changed at about 36 percent.
Total Return, which has $87.1 billion in assets and is the world's biggest actively run bond fund, is reducing its holdings of developing-market assets as a rally ends on speculation the Federal Reserve is still on course to raise interest rates. Investors seeking safety can buy when the U.S. sells $23 billion of 10-year notes Wednesday.
"We've been outright reducing risk in some of the higher-risk, or more volatile, segments of the market," said Dan Ivascyn, the chief investment officer for PIMCO, which is based in Newport Beach, California.
"The emerging-market region has significant near-term challenges. From a shorter-term perspective, we're much more cautious," he said in a video on the outlook for May posted on the company's website on Monday.
