Japan: the only way is up

This year has not been kind to Japanese equities. But at these levels, things can only get better for Japan, reports Andrew Van Sickle.

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Japan is doing everything in its power to cheer investors

This year has not been kind to Japanese equities. The Nikkei 225 index has fallen by around 15% so far, while the broader Topix index has lost almost a fifth, its worst start since 1995. Foreign investors have been heading for the exits. They have sold around $93bn of Japanese stocks in the past year, as the FT's Leo Lewis points out. And they may not be back in a hurry. Last month's Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of global fund managers shows that they are more bearish on Japan than at any stage since late 2012.

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Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.