Stubbornly strong yen benefits UK investors

ON JAPAN

Martin Currie's John Millar explains why Japan is attractive for sterling-based investors despite political and macro headwinds.

Anyone hoping for a quiet summer in the world’s equity markets has been gravely disappointed. As Europe’s debt maelstrom threatens to suck further countries down and US economic data remains distinctly lacklustre, global indices have endured some of the fiercest volatility since the dark days of 2008. But for UK-based investors at least, Japan has been a good place to be. In the three months to the end of July, a stubbornly strong currency has helped to transform a negative yen figure into a positive sterling return of more than 5%. Given the savaging that Japan’s stock market took in...