Japan

JAPAN ANALYSIS

Outperforming their large-cap brethren, Japan's smaller companies have driven a sector gain of 42.6% over one year with value still to be found

ON ASIA

Artemis' William Littlewood has introduced a Japanese equity position into his Strategic Assets fund for the first time as the portfolio reaches £500m of assets in under a year since launch.

ASSET ALLOCATION

Invesco Perpetual has renamed its £1.21bn International Equity product as the Global Equity fund in a bid to bring improved clarity and consistency for investors.

Optimism on the economic recovery led by US retail data from March led most Asian stocks to gain slightly on Friday.

New data on US consumer credit from the Federal Reserve revealed a downturn in February and added to the downward pressure on the Asian stock markets on Thursday.

I spend much of my time scrutinising the post-modern equivalent of tea leaves - value-based fundamental measures of the aggregate market alongside technical and liquidity-driven metrics.

Japanese funds dominated returns during the first quarter of the year as the region's equity market begins to bounce back from a disappointing 2009.