David Fuller and Eoin Treacy's Comment of the Day
Category - Japan

    The Bank of Japan Steps Up With Record Buys of Local Stocks

    This article by Min Jeong Lee and Toshiro Hasegawa for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    "If it hadn’t been for the BOJ’s ETF buying, the Nikkei 225 would have breached 20,000," said Ayako Sera, a market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd in Tokyo. "For investors, March was a month to reduce exposure to Japanese equities."

    The BOJ bought 1.9 trillion in ETFs in the first quarter, which is 32 percent of its annual purchase goal. To be sure, Kuroda has said that the target isn’t set in stone at exactly 6 trillion per year, and annual purchases don’t necessarily have to be measured from January to December. On Tuesday, Kuroda said the central bank is discussing how to eventually exit from its massive monetary stimulus but that it’s still too early to reveal details.

    Not that long ago, many investors expected the BOJ to join the global trend toward stimulus tapering by reducing ETF buying this year. That came after the Topix and the Nikkei 225 soared to their highest levels in a quarter century. But then the market slumped, and the situation changed.

    Foreigners have muddied the picture, dumping Japanese equities as the yen gained to a 16-month high against the dollar. They yanked almost 8 trillion yen from cash equities and futures in the first quarter alone, according to data through March 23. Suddenly, not many people are expecting a BOJ taper anytime soon.

    Tatsuya Oguchi, chief executive officer and president of Franklin Templeton Investments in Japan, says the BOJ won’t rush to alter its ETF purchases.

    "Obviously, the BOJ has to stop buying at some point," Oguchi said. But "I think we have to wait until the Tokyo Olympics” in 2020, he said. “The BOJ won’t change their policy at least for another two three years."

    Kiyoshi Ishigane, chief strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, agreed. “Of course, they won’t cut back," Ishigane said. Like the others, he doesn’t expect the bank to increase the target, either. "The BOJ would buy more if they could stop the market from falling, but it knows that it can’t."

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    Hedge Funds Short Dollar-Yen Stare Down Fiscal Year Squeeze

    This article by Michael G. Wilson and Chikako Mogi for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    Just as hedge funds pile into wagers betting on dollar-yen weakness, signs are emerging that the pair is poised for a resurgence in Japan’s new fiscal year.


    The greenback’s failure to break below 104.50, seen by major Japanese banks as a key barrier amid a congestion of buy orders, is pointing to a potential bottom for the widely traded cross. That’s bad news for speculators that suddenly turned bearish for the first time in almost a year this month as an escalation in global trade tension and a domestic political scandal spurred demand for Japan’s haven currency.


    The culmination of the country’s fiscal year this week -- which has historically capped dollar strength amid repatriation flows -- month-end fund rebalancing and easing trade tensions are creating the conditions for a dollar bounce against the yen, according to traders and strategists. The rebound looks to have already begun, with the pair climbing as high as 106.41 Wednesday as Japanese importers were seen selling the domestic currency.


    “With Japan’s new fiscal year starting shortly, I expect a certain degree of yen selling flows to emerge,” said Tohru Sasaki, head of Japan markets research of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Flows related to the start of the fiscal year could push dollar- yen upward toward the 111 to 112 area, he added.

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    Japan Scandal Gives Fresh Boost to Yen Bulls Eyeing 100 Mark

    This article by Masaki Kondo and David Finnerty for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    Governor Haruhiko Kuroda made it clear last week the current stimulus program will remain in place for a while. There’s concern that any move past 100 could prompt a policy response if it’s deemed to hurt attempts to reflate the economy. However, his remarks on March 2 that the bank will start thinking about a stimulus exit in fiscal 2019 have at least increased market speculation over the timing of a possible normalization.

    Kuroda’s mention of an exit was meant to prime markets for an eventual withdrawal, says Daisuke Uno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in Tokyo. “Given the reduction in bond purchases, the BOJ is already laying ground for an exit. It just isn’t saying so.”

     

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    Japan's executives paid less than Asian colleagues

    This article from Bloomberg appeared in the Straits Times. Here is a section:

    "The workforce is becoming more and more global, so to attract and retain the best people, you need to be prepared to pay competitive salaries," said Marc Burrage, managing director of Hays Japan. Seniority-based pay systems are among the reasons for Japan’s low salaries, he said. "It’s a concerning situation and if it’s not addressed soon, it will start to bite in terms of productivity."

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    Yen Bears Seen Getting Brief Relief From Kuroda Reappointment

    This article by Chikako Mogi for Bloomberg may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    The yen briefly weakened Friday when local media reported Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to nominate Kuroda for a second five-year term, strengthening speculation that has been in the market for weeks. Kuroda’s record easing helped push the yen to almost 126 per dollar in mid-2015, the weakest in more than a decade. The currency was at 108.43 on Tuesday.

    The Federal Reserve started to trim its balance sheet last year, while the European Central Bank is also looking to unwind stimulus. Few economists predict the BOJ will deepen its already unprecedented easing after Kuroda failed to achieve a 2 percent inflation target in his first term. Foreign investors think if the BOJ can’t expand stimulus, its next step will be a move toward an exit. Domestic investors only see policy being tweaked.

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    Email of the day on investing in a Japanese recovery

    Re Japan, you discussed previously how one might get exposure to the Japanese financial sector. One obvious candidate would be the NYSE quoted ADRs in Nomura. In the past the Topix Securities Index has moved in line with the Japanese Banks Index. My question is do you think that times have changed so much that a stock like Nomura is no longer a good geared play on the Nikkei?

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    Trump's Tax Cuts

    This article by LohKC on the FTAlphaville blog represents an interesting interpretation of motivations behind focusing on GDP versus GNI and may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

    We can see immediately that more production means a larger GDP and that more production requires more workers, ceteris paribus (that is setting aside other considerations that can affect employment such as automation, productivity etc.). Most of the workers in any country would be its nationals. So usually a country’s desire to raise its GDP has a lot to do with the wish to create more employment for its people. But I would argue that Japan’s situation is quite different.

    Japan’s labour force is shrinking. It has been shrinking at the rate of 0.4% in the past decade and by all accounts the rate of decline will rise in the coming years. So unsurprisingly Japan’s unemployment rate is very low. Unemployment rate has fallen below 3% recently, which makes Japan’s unemployment rate among the lowest in the world. True, Japan still has a large source of untapped labour; women’s participation in the job market is very low. And that is a pressing issue but it is not really relevant to this discussion. Perhaps I might write about women’s participation in the job market one day but for now, regarding whether moving some manufacturing to the US isn’t such a bad idea, suffice to say that Japanese manufacturers are facing difficulties filling job vacancies in Japan because of Japan’s shrinking labour force and ultra low unemployment rate.

    Japan’s challenge today is not about reducing unemployment. Japan’s challenges today are about coping with the social costs of and economic headwind from an aging population and a shrinking labour force. 

    So we see that the raison d’être for GDP is no longer that compelling for Japan. Japan should aim to maximise its gross national income (GNI) instead.

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    Email of the day on Japanese banks and REITs

    Just read your piece on Japanese financials

    What is the issue with Tokyo listed stocks? There are no restrictions for non-Japanese investors to buy local stocks, at least from the perspective of a European investor.

    Why do you mention only ADR and GDR? (btw. German listed GDR have often very poor liquidity)

    Btw: Wisdom Tree used to have a hedged ETF on Financials: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials Fund (DXJF) but I don’t know if it is still actively traded

    Finally: Do Japanese REITs also belong to this category of possible beneficiaries from rising J-yields like banks in your opinion?  The iShares Japan REIT ETF trades under ticker 1476 JP

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