The survey of five Japan-based fund managers conducted between Jan. 17 and 24 showed respondents on average wanted to allocate 56.4 percent of their portfolios to bonds in January, up from 56.2 percent in December.
Within bonds, the respondents cut their North American debt exposure to 32.3 percent in January from 34.9 percent in December.
The attraction of U.S. Treasuries lessened in January, with the benchmark 10-year note yield pulling back from a two-year peak above 2.6 percent scaled in mid-December to as low as 2.3 percent a month later.
On the other hand, the fund managers increased their euro zone debt exposure to 19.5 percent in January from 17.8 percent in December with German bund yields climbing to a one-year high this month.
They also raised their Japanese bond holdings to 35.2 percent in January from 34.6 percent in December.
Japan's benchmark yield has climbed steadily after falling to a record low of minus 0.300 percent in July and last stood at 0.080 percent.
"It will be a struggle to find clear direction amid the wait-and-see mood prevailing towards Trump's policies. Even if some of the policy details are revealed, doubts will remain as to whether they can be actually achieved," said Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Insurance.
The respondents reduced their overall stock holdings to 37.1 percent in January from 37.5 percent in December.
They trimmed their exposure to Japanese stocks to 46.1 percent in January from 46.2 percent in December.
The fund managers slightly raised North American stock holdings to 30.5 percent from 30.4 percent and kept their U.K. and euro zone equity exposure unchanged at 5 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively.
(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Kim Coghill)
