Japan

The Japanese government has approved a fresh 10.3 trillion yen ($116bn; £72bn) stimulus package to shore up its flagging economy.

Ruffer's flagship investment trust has made "painfully slow" progress in 2012, held back by protective investments in the US dollar, put options, and gold mining shares.

BENCHMARKS

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM)'s chairman Jim O'Neill outlines five encouraging signs from the global economy and asks whether 2013 will be the year investors ditch fixed income in favour of equities.

Schroders Private Bank has highlighted the three areas of the market it expects to outperform this year, pointing to Japan, UK property, and commodities as potential winners.

A convincing election win by Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) boosted Japanese equities and caused the yen to weaken.

Asian equity boutique Coupland Cardiff is set to add a Japanese income fund to its range in the New Year.

GLG Partners is to reopen the top-performing Japan CoreAlpha fund range, run by Stephen Harker (pictured), Neil Edwards and Jeffrey Atherton.

The election of Shinzō Abe as Japanese prime minister could be the catalyst for the region to outperform after years of flagging returns, prompting asset allocators to review their underweight exposure to the country.

Japan's economy has shrunk by 3.5% on an annualised basis, following a sharp decline in exports to key markets like China.