Will the Nikkei be a star performer in 2014?

Many traders will be hoping for another great year in Japanese stocks. Will they be disappointed? John C Burford examines the charts.

I'm going a little off piste today. I normally cover the Dow, because it's my favourite stock index to swing trade. But today I shall analyse the Nikkei, which appears to be on the verge of a turn. It could also be at a major turning point.

One reason for my interest is that Japanese stocks have become a highly touted sector for investors lately. 2013 was certainly a banner year for Japanese shares. The problem for overseas investors is not the booming stock market. The problem is that the yen has been similarly booming, but in the wrong direction.

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John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.