Where to invest

ON JAPAN

Japanese equities have had a volatile six months. Rallying 20% during the first quarter, this was one of the strongest starts to the year

However, recovery from the previous year’s natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and market optimism to the mid February announcement that the Bank of Japan would be setting an inflation goal and increasing their purchases of Japanese Government bonds, proved short lived. There has been concern that the global economy, notably China and Europe was slowing more than expected and uncertainty over the future of the euro and European banks meant that once again the yen was perceived as a safe haven and duly strengthened. This coupled with the possibility that end demand for Japanese exp...