Why we focus on robust companies surviving politicial storms

ON JAPAN

The Japanese stock market has risen in tandem with the weaker yen, as recently elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party continues to reiterate their stance for further aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Pressure on the Bank of Japan led to the announcement that the current hawkish governor Shirakawa will step down three weeks before the end of his term. The likelihood is that the new governor will be more accommodative of more aggressive monetary stimulus. Both foreign and domestic investors have been buyers of Japanese equities and are likely to remain so, especially as many foreign investors have ignored Japan for many years and are now looking to gain exposure to this perennially unloved market.  However, a note of caution, over the last decade Japan has implemented around 24 s...