Topix rises 16% in second quarter, refuting the region's poor history

After years of being a non-starter, the Japanese equity market has outperformed most of its major gl...

After years of being a non-starter, the Japanese equity market has outperformed most of its major global peers in recent months. The Topix has risen more than 16% in yen terms so far in the second quarter of 2008, compared with 1%-2% for both the S&P 500 index and the FTSE All Share index in local currency terms. Even in sterling terms, the Topix has returned over 9%, compared with 3% and 1% respectively for the US and the UK benchmarks. The question now is whether this outperformance is just a short-term blip or will continue beyond the current quarter. This recent outperformance com...